Method and system for maintaining contact information
First Claim
1. A method for managing contact information, the method comprising:
- maintaining in a server a list of records for a registered user, each of the records including a profile of a contact of the registered user, the profile including a text field in addition to at least a last name, a first name, and an email address of the contact, wherein the text field allows the contact to edit a personal statement in free form to be shared with contacts of the contact;
posting comments received from some of the contacts in responding to the personal statement by the contact;
receiving data by the server from at least two sources, the data from each of the at least two sources including a fractional portion of one of records, wherein the server and each of the at least sources are coupled over a data network;
merging the data for the one of records by operations including;
filling each of data fields created for the one of records with corresponding information from the data received respectively from the at least two sources;
creating automatically or by the registered user a duplicated data field for one of the data fields to accommodate a different version of the information meant for the one of the data fields;
allowing the profile to be annotated in a private text field by the registered user for reminding the registered user what the contact is about; and
synchronizing the records between the server and one of the sources upon a request, wherein the one of the sources has a latest version of the records, each of the sources is one of an email application tool, a webmail tool, a cellular phone, a personal computer, and a mobile device.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Techniques for synchronizing personal contact information with or from different sources are disclosed. Through a website (i.e., a server or system), all fractional personal contact information is consolidated, synchronized, processed or updated. In return, any of the resources may be synchronized to get a copy of the latest version of the contact information. When contacts in a list by a registered user are also registered with the server, any of the contacts may update their respective contact information that can be timely reflected in the list. As a result, the registered user always has a latest version of the contact information for some or all of his/her contacts without even knowing some has already been changed or updated. Based on the contact information, other features including proof delivery of emails, recycling of deleted contacts, a “black” list, contact relationship levels and anonymous email, short messaging and calls are provided.
30 Citations
19 Claims
-
1. A method for managing contact information, the method comprising:
-
maintaining in a server a list of records for a registered user, each of the records including a profile of a contact of the registered user, the profile including a text field in addition to at least a last name, a first name, and an email address of the contact, wherein the text field allows the contact to edit a personal statement in free form to be shared with contacts of the contact; posting comments received from some of the contacts in responding to the personal statement by the contact; receiving data by the server from at least two sources, the data from each of the at least two sources including a fractional portion of one of records, wherein the server and each of the at least sources are coupled over a data network; merging the data for the one of records by operations including; filling each of data fields created for the one of records with corresponding information from the data received respectively from the at least two sources; creating automatically or by the registered user a duplicated data field for one of the data fields to accommodate a different version of the information meant for the one of the data fields; allowing the profile to be annotated in a private text field by the registered user for reminding the registered user what the contact is about; and synchronizing the records between the server and one of the sources upon a request, wherein the one of the sources has a latest version of the records, each of the sources is one of an email application tool, a webmail tool, a cellular phone, a personal computer, and a mobile device. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
-
-
12. A system for managing contact information, the system comprising:
-
at least a server computing device configured to manage a list of records for a registered user, each of the records including a profile of a contact of the registered user, the profile including at least a last name, a first name, and an email address, the server computing device also including a specifically marked store to keep some of the records that the registered user has deleted from the list of records, wherein the server computing device is configured to receive fractional data for a record in the list respectively from at least two sources each capable of capturing partial information for the records, the records is created in the server computing device by merging the fractional data from the at least two sources with operations including; filling each of data fields created for the with corresponding information from the partial data received from the at least two sources; creating automatically a duplicated data field for one of the data fields to accommodate a different version of the information meant for the one of the data fields; and allowing the profile in the record to be annotated in a private text field by the registered user for reminding what the contact is about, wherein, when the server computing device and one of the at least two sources are caused to be synchronized, the one of the at least two sources is configured to cache a copy of a latest version of the records, the one of the at least two sources is one of an email application tool, a webmail tool, a cellular phone, a personal computer, and a mobile device, and wherein the updated records further includes a default record that provides a mechanism to allow the registered user to send in a short message. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
-
-
19. A method for managing contact information, the method comprising:
-
maintaining a database for a plurality of users at a server, each of the users keeping a list of entries, each of the entries including a profile of a contact and corresponding contact information of the contact, wherein, when the contact changes any of the profile or corresponding contacting information as an update, any of the users listing the contact as one of contacts thereof gets the update automatically, the contact does not have to notify the any of the users about the update; providing a module to be executed in a source capable to capture fractional information about one of the entries, wherein the module is further configured to provide proof delivery of email or short messaging (SM) by a contact defined to be anonymous; and synchronizing the list of entries with the source via the module being used by one of the users to ensure that both the server and the source have a latest version of the entries.
-
Specification