METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR SEARCHING CONTACT LISTS QUICKLY - BY GROUP NAME, TAGS AND/OR METADATA

• US 20090089316A1
• Filed: 10/01/2007
• Published: 04/02/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 10/01/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Kogan, Sandra L., Raven, Mary E., Wanderski, Anuphinh P.
• Granted Patent: US 9,063,981 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24573 using data annotations, e.g. user-defined metadata
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24575 using context
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/2748 by matching character strings

Abstract

A method and system for searching contact lists quickly, that provides searching of a contact list by user defined group names, attributes, and/or system defined metadata regarding contacts, groups and/or attributes. A user of a communication system is allowed to organize their contacts in their contact list within a number of contact groups and to associate attributes with contact groups and/or individual contacts. The visual display of contacts within the user'"'"'s contact list user interface display may be configured to visually organize contacts into the groups they belong to, and/or to display the attributes associated with groups and/or contacts within the top level contact list display. Group and/or contact attributes may alternatively be accessed by selecting (e.g. clicking on) a group or contact. A quick search feature is provided that allows the contact list to be searched based on group name, attribute, and/or contact name, as well as based on group, contact and/or attribute metadata.

Claims

1. A method of providing quick searching of a contact list for an electronic communication system, comprising:

obtaining a user defined first attribute for association with a contact in said contact list;

receiving a quick search query including said first attribute; and

displaying, responsive to said receipt of said quick search query including said first attribute, a first result set including said contact.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said obtaining said user defined attribute comprises displaying a contact definition user interface display object including a contact attributes field and inputting said user defined first attribute from said contact attributes field.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein said displaying said contact attribute definition user interface display object is responsive to a user adding said contact to said contact list.

4. The method of claim 2 wherein said displaying said contact attribute definition user interface display object is responsive to a user selecting said contact in said contact list.

5. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

obtaining a group name for association with said contact;

receiving a second quick search query including said group name; and

displaying, responsive to said receipt of said second quick search query including said group name, a second result set including said contact.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein said contact definition user interface display object further includes a group name field, and further comprising inputting said group name from said group name field.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein said obtaining said group name comprises displaying a group name definition user interface display including a group name field and inputting said group name from said group name field.

8. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

obtaining a user defined second attribute for association with said group name;

receiving a third quick search query including said second attribute; and

displaying, responsive to said receipt of said third quick search query including said second attribute, a third result set including said contact.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein said obtaining said group name comprises displaying a group name definition user interface display including a group attributes field and inputting said second attribute from said group name field.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising displaying said first attribute in said contact list in visual proximity to said contact.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising displaying said second attribute in said contact list in visual proximity to said group name.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein said receiving said quick search query including said first attribute further comprises:

displaying a quick contact list search user interface display object including a plurality of user selectable search options including a search by attributes search option and a search by group name search option.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein said search by metadata provides for searching said contact list based on context information associated with each contact and each group in said contact list.

14. A system including a computer readable medium, said computer readable medium having program code stored thereon for providing quick searching of a contact list for an electronic communication system, said program code comprising:

program code for obtaining a user defined first attribute for association with a contact in said contact list;

program code for receiving a quick search query including said first attribute; and

program code for displaying, responsive to said receipt of said quick search query including said first attribute, a first result set including said contact.

15. A computer program product including a computer readable medium, said computer readable medium having program code stored thereon for providing quick searching of a contact list for an electronic communication system, said program code comprising:

program code for obtaining a user defined first attribute for association with a contact in said contact list;

program code for receiving a quick search query including said first attribute; and

program code for displaying, responsive to said receipt of said quick search query including said first attribute, a first result set including said contact.

16. A computer data signal embodied in a carrier wave, said computer data signal having program code stored thereon for providing quick searching of a contact list for an electronic communication system, said program code comprising:

program code for obtaining a user defined first attribute for association with a contact in said contact list;

program code for receiving a quick search query including said first attribute; and

program code for displaying, responsive to said receipt of said quick search query including said first attribute, a first result set including said contact.

17. A system for providing quick searching of a contact list for an electronic communication system, comprising:

means for obtaining a user defined first attribute for association with a contact in said contact list;

means for receiving a quick search query including said first attribute; and

means for displaying, responsive to said receipt of said quick search query including said first attribute, a first result set including said contact.