USER ASSOCIATION OF A COMPUTING APPLICATION WITH A CONTACT IN A CONTACT LIST

• US 20130246931A1
• Filed: 05/01/2013
• Published: 09/19/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 12/31/2003
• Status: Active Application

• Current Assignee: Checkfree Services Corporation (Fiserv Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Checkfree Corporation (Fiserv Incorporated)
• Inventors: Harris, Mark T., Dreyer, Hans D., Hobday, Donald Kenneth Jr.
• Granted Patent: US 10,291,688 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/739
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/33 using certificates
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46

Abstract

Methods and systems may be provided for user association of a computing application with a contact in a contact list. A view of one or more contacts of the user may be transmitted to a user, the view included a first contact. A request may be received from the user to associate an application with the first contact. A revised view may be transmitted to the user responsive to the received request, the revised view including a user-selectable mechanism for invoking the application on the first contact. The user may be redirected to a user interface of the application subsequent to the user selecting the user-selectable mechanism associated with the contact in the revised view, and the redirection may include transmission of information associated with the user and information associated with the first contact.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

at least one memory storing an application comprising computer-executable instructions; and

at least one processor configured to access the at least one memory and to execute the computer-executable instructions to;

receive, from a user device on behalf of a user, an application request associated with the application, wherein the application request is received in connection with a redirection of a user application executing on the user device to the application, and wherein the application request comprises;

i) an indication of a function to be executed utilizing contact information associated with a contact of the user, wherein the function is associated with the application, and

one of;

ii) at least a portion of the contact information or

iii) information that enables, at least in part, obtaining the at least a portion of the contact information from a contact service system; and

perform processing associated with execution of the function utilizing the contact information, wherein the processing comprises;

transmitting, to the user device for presentation to the user via the user application, a user interface associated with the function, wherein the user interface comprises one or more data fields, and wherein each of the one or more data fields comprises at least a respective portion of the contact information;

receiving, from the user device on behalf of the user, and responsive to transmitting the user interface, a confirmation to execute the function; and

initiating execution of the function.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the application request comprises the information that enables, at least in part, obtaining the at least a portion of the contact information from the contact service system, and wherein the information comprises an entity identifier associated with the contact information, the processing associated with execution of the function further comprising:

transmitting, to the contact service system, a request for the at least a portion of the contact information, wherein the request comprises the entity identifier; and

receiving, from the contact service system and responsive to transmitting the request, the at least a portion of the contact information.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the application request further comprises a token providing authorization to access the contact service system, and wherein the request for the at least a portion of the contact information further comprises the token.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to execute the computer-executable instructions to:

receive information associated with the user of the user device,

wherein the processing associated with execution of the function is performed further utilizing the information associated with the user of the user device.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the user interface is a first user interface, the processing associated with execution of the function further comprising:

redirecting the user application executing on the user device to a second user interface responsive to initiating execution of the function; and

transmitting, to the contact service system in association with the redirection of the user application to the second user interface, update information for updating one or more data values of the contact information.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the contact information comprises i) general information associated with the contact and ii) application-specific information associated with the contact, wherein the general information is available to a plurality of applications including the application and the application-specific information is specific to the application.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the application-specific information comprises i) a portion designated as private and ii) a portion designated as hidden, wherein the portion designated as private is accessible by the user and the portion designated as hidden is not accessible by the user, and wherein the portion designated as hidden comprises scrubbed data utilized to perform the processing associated with execution of the function.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the application request is received responsive to invocation, via the user application, of the application in association with the contact.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the function is associated with one of:

i) a payment to the contact,

ii) presentment of a bill from the contact,

iii) issuance of a bill to the contact, or

iv) presentment of a view of one or more financial transactions associated with the contact.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the contact information comprises identifying information associated with the contact, and wherein the identifying information comprises at least one of:

i) a name,

ii) an address,

iii) an e-mail address,

iv) a phone number, or

v) an account number associated with a user account associated with the user and the contact.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least a portion of the contact information is a first portion of the contact information, the processing associated with execution of the function further comprising:

transmitting, to the user device for presentation to the user, a request for a second portion of the contact information; and

receiving, from the user device on behalf of the user, the second portion of the contact information.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the user application executing on the user device is a Web browser.

13. A method, comprising:

receiving, by a service provider system comprising one or more computers, from a user device on behalf of a user, an application request associated with an application executing on the service provider system, wherein the application request is received in connection with a redirection of a user application executing on the user device to the application executing on the service provider system, and wherein the application request comprises;

i) an indication of a function to be executed utilizing contact information associated with a contact of the user, wherein the function is associated with the application, and

one of;

ii) at least a portion of the contact information or

iii) information that enables, at least in part, obtaining the at least a portion of the contact information from a contact service system; and

performing, by the service provider system and responsive to execution of computer-executable instructions of the application, processing associated with execution of the function utilizing the contact information, wherein the processing comprises;

transmitting, to the user device for presentation to the user via the user application, a user interface associated with the function, wherein the user interface comprises one or more data fields, and wherein each of the one or more data fields comprises at least a respective portion of the contact information;

receiving, from the user device on behalf of the user, and responsive to transmitting the user interface, a confirmation to execute the function; and

initiating execution of the function.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the application request comprises the information that enables, at least in part, obtaining the at least a portion of the contact information from the contact service system, and wherein the information comprises an entity identifier associated with the contact information, the processing associated with execution of the function further comprising:

transmitting, to the contact service system, a request for the at least a portion of the contact information, wherein the request comprises the entity identifier; and

receiving, from the contact service system and responsive to transmitting the request, the at least a portion of the contact information.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the application request further comprises a token providing authorization to access the contact service system, and wherein the request for the at least a portion of the contact information further comprises the token.

16. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

receiving, by the service provider system, information associated with the user of the user device,

wherein the processing associated with execution of the function is performed further utilizing the information associated with the user of the user device.

17. The method of claim 13, wherein the user interface is a first user interface, the processing associated with execution of the function further comprising:

redirecting the user application executing on the user device to a second user interface responsive to initiating execution of the function; and

transmitting, to the contact service system in association with the redirection of the user application to the second user interface, update information for updating one or more data values of the contact information.

18. The method of claim 13, wherein the contact information comprises i) general information associated with the contact and ii) application-specific information associated with the contact, wherein the general information is available to a plurality of applications including the application and the application-specific information is specific to the application.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the application-specific information comprises i) a portion designated as private and ii) a portion designated as hidden, wherein the portion designated as private is accessible by the user and the portion designated as hidden is not accessible by the user, and wherein the portion designated as hidden comprises scrubbed data utilized to perform the processing associated with execution of the function.

20. The method of claim 13, wherein the application request is received responsive to invocation, via the user application, of the application in association with the contact.

21. The method of claim 13, wherein the function is associated with one of:

i) a payment to the contact,

ii) presentment of a bill from the contact,

iii) issuance of a bill to the contact, or

iv) presentment of a view of one or more financial transactions associated with the contact.

22. The method of claim 13, wherein the contact information comprises identifying information associated with the contact, and wherein the identifying information comprises at least one of:

i) a name,

ii) an address,

iii) an e-mail address,

iv) a phone number, or

v) an account number associated with a user account associated with the user and the contact.

23. The method of claim 13, wherein the at least a portion of the contact information is a first portion of the contact information, the processing associated with execution of the function further comprising:

transmitting, to the user device for presentation to the user, a request for a second portion of the contact information; and

receiving, from the user device on behalf of the user, the second portion of the contact information.

24. The method of claim 13, wherein the user application executing on the user device is a Web browser.

25. One or more computer-readable media storing an application comprising computer-executable instructions that in response to execution cause operations to be performed:

receiving, from a user device on behalf of a user, an application request associated with the application, wherein the application request is received in connection with a redirection of a user application executing on the user device to the application, and wherein the application request comprises;

i) an indication of a function to be executed utilizing contact information associated with a contact of the user, wherein the function is associated with the application, and

one of;

ii) at least a portion of the contact information or

iii) information that enables, at least in part, obtaining the at least a portion of the contact information from a contact service system; and

performing processing associated with execution of the function utilizing the contact information, wherein the processing comprises;

transmitting, to the user device for presentation to the user via the user application, a user interface associated with the function, wherein the user interface comprises one or more data fields, and wherein each of the one or more data fields comprises at least a respective portion of the contact information;

receiving, from the user device on behalf of the user, and responsive to transmitting the user interface, a confirmation to execute the function; and

initiating execution of the function.