SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR A GLOBAL DIRECTORY SERVICE

• US 20120311676A1
• Filed: 12/15/2010
• Published: 12/06/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 01/04/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Einnovations Holdings Pte. Ltd. (PLDT, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Smart Hub Pte Limited
• Inventors: Ibasco, Alex D., Joson, Eduardo Ramon G., Balace, Valenice G., Losantas, Jose Lorenzo L.
• Granted Patent: US 9,846,858 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 726/4
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/4594 Address books, i.e. directories containing contact information about correspondents telephone directories in user terminals H04M1/27453

Abstract

A system and method for facilitating the transfer of contact information between network subscribers said system including at least one server coupled to the network; at least one database coupled to the server; a plurality of subscriber terminals coupled to the network wherein each subscriber'"'"'s terminal is configured to send contact information associated with a subscriber to the server in response to a request by said subscriber; wherein the request causes the subscriber'"'"'s terminal to compile the contact information into an electronic business card object having one or more textual fields and map the one or more textual fields of the electronic business card to one or more object attributes contained in an electronic business card object and transmit the electronic business card object to the server for storage in the database is disclosed.

Claims

1-26. -26. (canceled)

27. A method of transferring contact information between a plurality of network subscribers said method comprising the steps of:

compiling at a subscriber terminal the contact information into an electronic business card;

registering the electronic business card with a directory wherein the step of registering the electronic business card further includes;

encapsulating the electronic business card in an electronic business card object by mapping the textual fields of the electronic business card to one or more attributes contained in the electronic business card object;

transmitting the electronic business card object to the directory; and

storing the electronic business card object in a database

receiving at the directory a set of search parameters from a subscriber;

searching the database for electronic business card objects that match the search parameters

providing a listing of electronic business card objects to the subscriber;

receiving at the directory a request from the subscriber for an electronic business card object from the provided listing of electronic business card objects; and

forwarding the requested electronic business card object to the subscriber.

28. The method of claim 27 wherein the step of registering further comprises the step of validating a set of subscriber credentials.

29. The method of claim 28 wherein the subscriber credentials comprise the mobile phone number of the requesting party and/or any such information which can be obtained from said party without its active knowledge or participation.

30. The method of claim 28 wherein the subscriber credentials comprise at least one of the following:

a PIN, password, and/or any such information which a party has to explicitly provide.

31. The method of claim 27 wherein the search parameters are set of keywords.

32. The method of claim 31 wherein the step of receiving the search parameters further comprises the step of parsing the received keywords prior to initiating the search.

33. The method of claim 27 wherein the step of providing a listing of electronic business card objects further comprises the step of sorting and/or filtering the search results.

34. The method of claim 33 wherein sorting the listing of the electronic business card objects is in accordance with one of the following:

a weighting accorded to the verified status of an object;

confirmed relationships as attributes of an object;

level of keyword match precision;

recency of information or Boolean operation.

35. The method of claim 27 further comprising the step of allowing a subscriber or any authorized party to update or delete any of the attributes of the electronic business card object.

36. The method of claim 35 wherein the step of updating the attributes and/or methods of the electronic business card object is be performed via a plurality of user interfaces.

37. The method of claim 36 wherein the user interfaces comprises at least one of the following:

a web or a wap interface, a local application, or a menu system using email, SMS, MMS, flash message, or an IP technology.

38. The method of claim 27 further comprising the step of receiving a request for synchronization from a subscriber.

39. The method of claim 38 wherein the step of synchronization further comprises the steps of:

verifying the existence of the electronic business card object/s requested to be synchronized

verifying the privacy or access level settings of the electronic business card object/s requested to be synchronized;

sending an actionable notification to the owner of the electronic business card object/s requested to be synchronized for the allowance or disallowance of the request based on the privacy or access level settings of electronic business card object/s;

sending a synchronization update or a copy of the electronic business card object/s requested to be synchronized or downloaded to the requesting subscriber on allowance of the synchronization request; and

sending an appropriate notification to the requesting party.

40. The method of claim 27 further comprising the step of verifying and authenticating the content of the electronic business card object.

41. The method of claim 40 wherein the step of verifying and authenticating further comprises the steps of:

tagging the object requested to be verified as certified on successful verification or authentication of the data in electronic business card object; and

sending an appropriate notification to the concerned party/parties.

42. The method of claim 40 wherein the step of verifying and authenticating further comprises the steps of:

verifying the electronic business card object via confidence level scoring; and

subsequently tagging those objects yielding a confidence level equal to or higher than a predefined threshold, as verified.

43. The method of claim 27 wherein the electronic business card object comprises one or more actionable element.

44. The method of claim 43 wherein the one or more actionable element comprises scripts that launch a native device application, launch an application or service, and/or initiate a web-based or a wap-based interface,

45. The method of claim 27 wherein the electronic business card object is a pointer to and a mask of a plurality of electronic business card objects, such that any user action on the electronic business card object acting as pointer to a plurality of electronic business card objects is effectively the same action individually on each of the electronic business card objects in such plurality of electronic business card objects.

46. A system for facilitating the transfer of contact information between network subscribers said system comprising:

at least one server coupled to the network;

at least one database coupled to the server;

a plurality of subscriber terminals coupled to the network wherein each subscriber'"'"'s terminal is configured to send contact information associated with a subscriber to the server in response to a request by said subscriber;

wherein the request causes the subscriber'"'"'s terminal to compile the contact information into an electronic business card object having one or more textual fields and map the one or more textual fields of the electronic business card to one or more object attributes contained in an electronic business card object and transmit the electronic business card object to the server for storage in the database.

47. The system of claim 46 wherein each subscriber terminal includes a menu engine adapted to read each object attribute contained in the electronic business card object and display a plurality of menus containing menu items representing one or more functions which can be performed in relation to the contact information represented by the electronic business card object.

48. The system of claim 47 wherein the electronic business card object is assigned a context and the menu engine is adapted to generate a set of default menu items for the assigned context.

49. The system of claim 48 wherein the menu engine is adapted to modify the set of default menu items for the context in response to modification of one or more object attributes of the electronic business card object by the electronic business card object owner.

50. The system of claim 46 wherein the electronic business card object comprises one or more actionable element.

51. The system of claim 50 wherein the one or more actionable element comprises scripts that launch a native device application, launch an application or service, and/or initiate a web-based or a wap-based interface,

52. The system of claim 46 wherein the electronic business card object is a pointer to and a mask of a plurality of electronic business card objects, such that any user action on the electronic business card object acting as pointer to a plurality of electronic business card objects is effectively the same action individually on each of the electronic business card objects in such plurality of electronic business card objects.