RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT FOR CONTACT STALENESS

• US 20100094837A1
• Filed: 10/15/2008
• Published: 04/15/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 10/15/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Stern, Edith H., Willner, Barry E., O'Sullivan, Patrick J., Weir, Robert C.
• Granted Patent: US 9,031,915 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/705
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]

Abstract

A contact management data processing system can be provided. The system can include a contact manager coupled to a list of contacts and stored staleness criteria stored in connection with the list of contacts. The system also can include stale contact management logic. The logic can include program code enabled to apply the stored staleness criteria to a selected contact to identify a stale contact, and to manage the stale contact in the list of contacts. In aspects of the embodiment, the list of contacts can be stored in a personal computer, in a server remotely disposed from the contact manager, in a telephone such as a cellular telephone or voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) telephone, or in a personal digital assistant to name but a few.

Claims

1. A stale contact management method comprising:

storing staleness criteria for contacts in a list of contacts;

applying the stored staleness criteria to a selected contact to identify a stale contact; and

,

managing the stale contact in the list of contacts.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein storing staleness criteria for contacts in a list of contacts comprises establishing a minimum frequency of communicative interaction with each contact over a threshold period of time.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein storing staleness criteria for contacts in a list of contacts comprises establishing a minimum quality of communicative interaction with each contact over a threshold period of time.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein storing staleness criteria for contacts in a list of contacts comprises establishing a required on-going collaborative membership in a collaborative tool with each contact over a threshold period of time.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein managing the stale contact in the list of contacts comprises removing the stale contact from the list of contacts.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein managing the stale contact in the list of contacts comprises grouping the stale contact with other stale contacts in the list of contacts.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein managing the stale contact in the list of contacts comprises denoting the stale contact as stale in the address book.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising storing different staleness criteria for different roles of the contacts in the list of contacts.

9. A contact management data processing system comprising:

a contact manager coupled to a list of contacts; and

,

stale contact management logic coupled to the contact manager, the logic comprising program code enabled to load a contact from the list of contacts, to apply stored staleness criteria to the loaded contact to identify a stale contact, and to manage the stale contact in the list of contacts.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the list of contacts is stored in a personal computer.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein the list of contacts is stored in a telephone.

12. The system of claim 9, wherein the list of contacts is stored in a personal digital assistant.

13. The system of claim 9, wherein the list of contacts is stored in a server remotely disposed from the contact manager.

20. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein the computer usable program code for managing the stale contact in the list of contacts comprises computer usable program code for denoting the stale contact as stale in the list of contacts.

14. A computer program product for stale contact management, the computer program product comprising:

a computer usable medium having computer usable program code embodied therewith, the computer usable program code comprising;

computer usable program code for storing staleness criteria for contacts in a list of contacts;

computer usable program code for applying the stored staleness criteria to a selected contact to identify a stale contact; and

,

computer usable program code for managing the stale contact in the list of contacts.

15. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein the computer usable program code for storing staleness criteria for contacts in a list of contacts comprises computer usable program code for storing a minimum frequency of communicative interaction with each contact over a threshold period of time.

16. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein the computer usable program code for storing staleness criteria for contacts in a list of contacts comprises computer usable program code for storing a minimum quality of communicative interaction with each contact over a threshold period of time.

17. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein the computer usable program code for storing staleness criteria for contacts in a list of contacts comprises computer usable program code for establishing a required on-going collaborative membership in a collaborative tool with each contact over a threshold period of time.

18. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein the computer usable program code for managing the stale contact in the list of contacts comprises computer usable program code for removing the stale contact from the list of contacts.

19. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein the computer usable program code for managing the stale contact in the list of contacts comprises computer usable program code for grouping the stale contact with other stale contacts in the list of contacts.

21. The computer program product of claim 14, further comprising computer usable program code for storing different staleness criteria for different roles of the contacts in the list of contacts.