UPDATING CONTACT INFORMATION FOR MOBILE TRAFFIC

• US 20090280786A1
• Filed: 05/09/2008
• Published: 11/12/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 05/09/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Ziklik, Elad
• Granted Patent: US 8,195,137 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/415
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2207/18 wireless networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42059 Making use of the calling party identifier
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/006 Networks other than PSTN/ISDN providing telephone service, e.g. Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) , including next generation networks with a packet-switched transport layer H04L65/00 takes precedence; aspects not specific to the type of network H04M3/00; special services in those networks H04M3/42

Abstract

A system for managing contact information between mobile devices. A notification is received any time a mobile device initiates or terminates a communication. The receiving mobile device is prompted to obtain the contact information of the caller. Based on permissions set by the caller, the receiving mobile device may obtain the caller'"'"'s public contact information, private contact information, none of the caller'"'"'s contact information or some combination of the caller'"'"'s public and private contact information. In one embodiment, a subset of the caller'"'"'s contact information is displayed in the screen of a receiving mobile device coincidentally while receiving the phone call to provide a caller-identification feature.

Claims

1. A method for transmitting contact information associated with a first person to a mobile device of a second person, comprising:

(a) receiving notification that a signal between the first person and the mobile device of the second person has ended;

(b) transmitting a request to the mobile device of the second person, the request prompting the second person to obtain the contact information associated with the first person; and

(c) if the second person requests the contact information in response to the request transmitted in step (b),

(i) obtaining the contact information associated with the first person from a network address book; and

(ii) transmitting the contact information from the network address book to the mobile device of the second person.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the step (c)(ii) of transmitting the contact information to the mobile device of the second person comprises transmitting the contact information via a messaging service.

3. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the step (c)(ii) of transmitting the contact information to the mobile device of the second person comprises transmitting a virtual card to the mobile device of the second person.

4. The method as recited in claim 3, wherein the step (c)(ii) of transmitting the contact information to the mobile device of the second person comprises pushing the virtual card to the mobile device of the second person.

5. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the step (c)(ii) of transmitting the contact information to the mobile device of the second person comprises transmitting the contact information to one of the following devices:

a mobile phone, a personal digital assistant, and a personal computer.

6. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the step (c)(ii) of transmitting the contact information to the mobile device of the second person comprises sending an instant message to the mobile device of the second person.

7. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the step (c)(i) of obtaining the contact information associated with the first person from a network address book comprises:

identifying the contact information associated with the first person based on a unique identification associated with the mobile device of the first person;

determining what contact information the first person has authorized to expose to the second person; and

obtaining the exposed contact information from the network address book.

8. The method as recited in claim 7, wherein the unique identification associated with the mobile device includes one of the following:

a cell phone number, an electronic serial number, a mobile identification number, a system identification code.

9. The method as recited in claim 1, further including:

(d) storing the transmitted contact information associated with the first person on the mobile device of the second person.

10. A method of providing caller identification associated with a first person to a mobile device of a second person, comprising:

(a) receiving notification that the first person initiated a phone call to the mobile device of the second person;

(b) identifying contact information associated with the first person stored in a network address book;

(c) determining what contact information stored in the network address book the first person has chosen to expose to the second person;

(d) retrieving the contact information the first person has chosen to expose to the second person from the network address book;

(e) transmitting the contact information retrieved in step (d) to the mobile device of the second person; and

(f) displaying a subset of the contact information transmitted in step (e) in a screen of the mobile device.

11. The method as recited in claim 10, wherein step (d) of identifying contact information associated with the first person stored in the network address book comprises identifying at least one of the following:

a name, an address, a phone number, an email address, a website, an image, a nickname, and a social community identity.

12. The method as recited in claim 10, wherein step (e) of transmitting the contact information comprises transmitting the contact information retrieved in step (d) to the second person'"'"'s mobile device prior to the mobile device receiving the phone call from the first person.

13. The method as recited in claim 10, wherein step (e) of transmitting the contact information comprises transmitting the contact information retrieved in step (d) to the second person'"'"'s mobile device during the phone call.

14. The method as recited in claim 10, wherein step (e) of transmitting the contact information comprises transmitting the contact information retrieved in step (d) to the second person'"'"'s mobile device after the phone call is completed.

15. The method as recited in claim 10, wherein step (b) of identifying the contact information associated with the first person comprises:

receiving identification data associated with the device used by the first person to initiate the phone call to the second person'"'"'s mobile device; and

identifying the contact information associated with the first person based on the identification data associated with the device used by the first person to initiate the phone call to the second person'"'"'s mobile device.

16. The method as recited in claim 10, further comprising:

storing the contact information transmitted in step (e) in the second person'"'"'s mobile device.

17. A method of providing caller identification associated with a first person from a network address book to a mobile device of a second person, comprising:

(a) receiving a request from the mobile device of the second person to obtain the contact information associated with the first person;

(b) in response to the request received in step (a), identifying the contact information associated with the first person in the network address book;

(c) identifying the contact information in the network address book associated with the first person the second person is authorized to obtain;

(d) retrieving the contact information identified in step (c) from the network address book; and

(e) transmitting the contact information retrieved in step (d) to the mobile device of the second person.

18. The method as recited in claim 17, wherein step (e) of transmitting the contact information retrieved in step (d) to the mobile device of the second person comprises transmitting a virtual card associated with the first person to the second person'"'"'s mobile device.

19. The method as recited in claim 17, wherein step (e) of transmitting the authorized contact retrieved in step (d) to the mobile device of the second person comprises transmitting the contact information associated with the first person to the second person'"'"'s mobile device via a short message service.

20. The method as recited in claim 17, wherein step (c) of identifying the contact information in the network address book associated with the first person comprises identifying the contact information in the network address book associated with the first person based on at least one of the following items associated with the first person:

name, address, phone number, email address, website, image, nickname, and social community identity.