Providing Profile Information Using Servers

• US 20110191340A1
• Filed: 09/03/2010
• Published: 08/04/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 02/03/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Xobni Corp. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Cort, Frank J., Jacobson, Joshua Robert Russell
• Granted Patent: US 9,020,938 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/732
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24578 using ranking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/27 Replication, distribution or synchronisation of data between databases or within a distributed database system; Distributed database system architectures therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/048 Interaction techniques based on graphical user interfaces [GUI]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/274 Converting codes to words; Guess-ahead of partial word inputs
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/04 Real-time or near real-time messaging, e.g. instant messaging [IM]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/52 for supporting social networking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1095 Replication or mirroring of data, e.g. scheduling or transport for data synchronisation between network nodes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles

Abstract

A method includes: generating profile data for users including a first user, the profile data related to contacts or persons used in messages to or from each user; generating, via a server platform, parameters corresponding to the profile data for ranking contacts or persons; and transmitting the parameters to client devices to allow each client device to determine ranks of contacts or persons in the profile data based on the parameters and a function that uses the parameters.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

generating, on a server platform, profile data for each of a plurality of users including a first user, the profile data related to contacts or persons used in messages to or from each respective user of the plurality of users;

generating, via the server platform, parameters corresponding to the profile data for ranking contacts or persons; and

transmitting, from the server platform, the parameters to a plurality of client devices to allow each of the client devices to determine ranks of contacts or persons in the profile data based on the parameters and a function that uses the parameters, the plurality of client devices including a first client device of the first user.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the parameters include at least one of the following:

a time parameter, a parameter indicating a message read status, and a parameter indicating level of contact in a social network.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the time parameter is a time since last message received.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

processing, on the server platform, a new message to or from the first user;

updating the parameters relevant to the new message to generate updated parameters; and

transmitting the updated parameters to the first client device.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the profile data is related to contacts, each of the contacts corresponds to a set of values for the parameters, and the method further comprising transmitting values for the updated parameters for storage locally on the first client device to allow the first client device to determine ranks of contacts based on the updated parameters and a function that uses the updated parameters.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, at the server platform, a copy of a new message sent by the first client device; and

updating, on the server platform, the profile data using information from the copy of the new message.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of client devices includes a second client device of the first user, the method further comprising synchronizing profile data among the first and second client devices.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the ranks of the contacts or persons are dependent upon a particular device used by the first user to provide an input, and wherein the particular device is the first or second client device.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

provisioning an LDAP server of the server platform for each respective user; and

storing profile data for each respective user in a database associated with the LDAP server.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising providing configuration settings data to allow each respective user to configure a client for communication with the LDAP server.

7. The method of claim 7, further comprising fetching the copy of the new message from a message server.

12. A machine readable media embodying instructions, the instructions causing a client device to perform a method, the method comprising:

receiving, at the client device, parameters corresponding to profile data, the profile data comprising a profile for each of a plurality of persons and the profile data being related to contacts or addresses used in messages to or from the client device;

receiving, via the client device, an incomplete input from a user;

presenting, via the client device, a plurality of suggestions to the user for completion of the input, wherein the plurality of suggestions is presented in a ranked order determined by an evaluation of ranks of contacts or addresses in the profile data based on the parameters and a formula that uses the parameters;

receiving, via the client device, a selection by the user of a first suggestion from the plurality of suggestions; and

completing the input with the first suggestion.

13. The machine readable media of claim 12, wherein:

the profile data is related to contacts;

each of the contacts corresponds to a respective set of values for the parameters;

the respective set of values for each contact is stored locally on the client device; and

a rank for a first contact of the contacts is dependent on the respective set of values for the first contact and the respective set of values for a second contact of the contacts.

14. A data processing system, comprising:

a memory to store profile data for each of a plurality of users including a first user, the profile data related to contacts or persons used in messages to or from each respective user of the plurality of users; and

at least one processor coupled to the memory, the at least one processor configured to perform a method, the method comprising;

generating parameters corresponding to the profile data for ranking contacts or persons; and

transmitting the parameters to a plurality of client devices to allow each of the client devices to determine ranks of contacts or persons in the profile data based on the parameters, the plurality of client devices including a first client device of the first user.

15. The data processing system of claim 14, wherein the parameters include at least one of the following:

a time parameter, a parameter indicating a message read status, and a parameter indicating level of contact in a social network.

16. The data processing system of claim 15, wherein the time parameter is a time since last message received.

17. The data processing system of claim 14, the method further comprising:

processing a new message to or from the first user;

updating the parameters relevant to the new message to generate updated parameters; and

transmitting the updated parameters to the first client device.

18. The data processing system of claim 17, wherein the profile data is related to contacts, each of the contacts has a set of values for the parameters, and the method further comprising transmitting values for the updated parameters for storage locally on the first client device to allow the first client device to determine the ranks of contacts based on the updated parameters and a function that uses the updated parameters.

19. The data processing system of claim 14, wherein the data processing system further comprises an LDAP server, the method further comprising:

provisioning the LDAP server for each respective user; and

storing profile data for each respective user in a database associated with the LDAP server.

20. The data processing system of claim 19, further comprising providing configuration settings data to allow each respective user to configure a client for communication with the LDAP server.