PROVIDING AN AGGREGATE DISPLAY OF CONTACT DATA FROM INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL SOURCES

• US 20170154094A1
• Filed: 02/14/2017
• Published: 06/01/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 10/20/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Tien, Ginger Elizabeth, Shah, Rikinkumar, Affronti, Michael Anthony, Meyer, Christina Marie
• Granted Patent: US 11,308,124 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2358 Change logging, detection, and notification replication G06F16/27
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24556 Aggregation; Duplicate elimination
• 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 16/275 Synchronous replication
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/105 Human resources
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking

Abstract

An aggregate display of contact data from internal and external sources is provided. Contact data associated with at least one contact is obtained from a plurality of sources, including at least an internal source and an external source. The obtained contact data is processed to generate an aggregated collection of contact data. The aggregated collection of contact data is stored. A display of the aggregated collection of contact data is displayed in a single, interactive interface.

Claims

1. A method for aggregating contact data of a user, comprising:

obtaining contact data associated with at least one contact from a plurality of sources, including at least an internal source and an external source;

processing the obtained contact data to generate an aggregated collection of contact data;

storing the aggregated collection of contact data; and

accessing the memory and presenting a display of the aggregated collection of contact data in a single, interactive interface.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the obtaining contact data from the internal source includes obtaining contact data from an active directory, a global address list (GAL), local personal information manager contacts, and web application contacts.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the obtaining contact data from the external source includes obtaining contact data from a third party service capable of integrating contact data into the aggregated collection of contact data.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the obtaining contact data from the external source includes obtaining contact data from social and business networking sites.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the processing the obtained contact data to generate the aggregated collection of contact data comprises processing contact data entered and stored by the user, contact data entered and published by the at least one contact, and contact data maintained externally.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the obtaining contact data associated with at least one contact from the plurality of sources comprises updating contact data when the external source changes contact data at the external source.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the processing the obtained contact data to generate the aggregated collection of contact data further comprises defining a set of contact data associated with the at least one contact to show in aggregate.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the obtaining contact data associated with the at least one contact from the plurality of sources further comprises receiving input from the user identifying contact data to obtain from each source compatible with the predetermined contact schema.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the processing the obtained contact data to generate the aggregated collection of contact data further comprises receiving a user-defined preference order for sources and providing the aggregated collection of contact data for presentation in ranked order according to the user defined preference order in the display of the aggregated collection of contact data in the single, interactive interface.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the obtaining contact data associated with at least one contact from the plurality of sources further comprises retrieving a profile for each source listed as a profile property when contact data from at least one source is not aggregated to allow the user to search the source for the unaggregated contact data for additional information.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the accessing the aggregated collection of contact data to present the display of the aggregated collection of contact data in the single, interactive interface further comprises displaying at least one source of contact data with an indication showing where the source of the contact data

12. A system for aggregating contact data of a user, comprising:

memory for storing data; and

a processor, coupled to the memory, the processor configured to obtain the contact data associated with at least one contact from a plurality of sources, including at least an internal source and an external source, to process the obtained contact data to generate an aggregated collection of contact data, to store the aggregated collection of contact data and to present a display of the aggregated collection of contact data in a single, interactive interface.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the contact data from the internal source includes an active directory, a global address list (GAL), local personal information managed contacts, and web application contacts and wherein the contact data from the external source includes the contact data from a third party service capable of integrating contact data into the aggregated collection of contact data.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein the contact data comprises the contact data entered and stored by the user, contact data entered and published by the at least one contact, and the contact data maintained externally.

15. The system of claim 12, wherein the processor monitors the plurality of sources to update the contact data when a source changes the contact data.

16. The system of claim 12, wherein the processing obtains the contact data based on a user-defined set of contact data compatible with a predetermined contact schema.

17. The system of claim 12, wherein the processor generates the aggregated collection of contact data according to a user-defined preference order for sources.

18. The system of claim 12, wherein the processor retrieves a profile for each source listed as a profile property when the contact data from at least one source is not aggregated to allow the user to search the source for the unaggregated contact data for additional information.

19. The system of claim 12, wherein the processor presents the display of the aggregated collection of contact data in the single, interactive interface, wherein at least one source of contact data in the display with an indication showing where the source of the contact data

20. A computer-readable storage medium including executable instructions which, when executed by a processor, aggregates contact data of a user, by:

obtaining contact data associated with at least one contact from a plurality of sources, including at least an internal source and an external source;

processing the obtained contact data to generate an aggregated collection of contact data;

storing the aggregated collection of contact data; and

accessing the aggregated collection of contact data to present a display of the aggregated collection of contact data in a single, interactive interface.