Standardized email construction and search based on geographic location

• US 7,437,414 B2
• Filed: 03/23/2001
• Issued: 10/14/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 03/24/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Alan Derek Dean
• Original Assignee: Alan Derek Dean
• Inventors: Dean, Alan Derek
• Primary Examiner(s): Patel; Haresh N
• Application Number:
  US09/815,760
• Publication Number:
  US 20010049723A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,762 Days
• Field of Search: 709200-206, 709/207, 709217-228, 715/752
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2101/604 Address structures or formats
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/48 Message addressing, e.g. address format or anonymous messages, aliases
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/4555 Directories for electronic mail or instant messaging

Abstract

A method of and system for generating a set of standardized electronic mail addresses, provide a personal name code indicative of the name of a person, a location code indicative of a known location of the person, generate an electronic mail address for said person based on the personal name code and the location code and provide a database of said electronic mail addresses for a plurality of persons at one or more locations. The preferred embodiment allows electronic mail addresses to be constructed and indexed so as to provide the easy location by a combination of some or all of family name, forenames, district, telephone area code, and for attachment of any amount of information relating to that address.

Claims

1. A program storage device readable by a machine and encoding a program of instructions for generating and providing access to standardized electronic mail addresses for individuals in a geographic region, the program of instructions comprising:

a. instructions collecting name and known location data of an individual from an information source;

b. instructions creating an at least partial entry for the individual in an index of individuals in a database, the at least partial entry being created once the name data and the known location data of the individual are collected;

c. instructions triggering generation of a standardized electronic mail address for the individual once both the name data and the known location data have been collected wherein;

(1) the name data includes at least a family name of the individual, and

(2) the location data includes one or more of

(a) a country specific postal address locator code,

(b) a region specific portion of a telephone number, the instructions including;

i. instructions generating a personal name code indicative of the collected name data of the individual;

ii. instructions generating a location code indicative of the collected known location data of the individual; and

iii. instructions generating the standardized electronic mail address for the individual based on the personal name code and the location code,

wherein one or more standardized email addresses are automatically created for each individual in a country, geographic region or state without each individual providing name and known location data to the program storage device;

d. instructions submitting the standardized electronic mail address for the individual to the database; and

e. instructions searching the database using the personal name code and the location code for the individual to locate the standardized electronic mail address of the individual.

2. The program storage device according to claim 1, wherein one or more subsidiary addresses, including existing electronic addresses, are associated with the standardized electronic mail address of the individual in the database.

3. The program storage device according to claim 1, wherein the instructions are further operable to attach a unique numeric identifier to the standardized electronic mail address of the individual.

4. The program storage device according to claim 1, wherein the instructions are further operable to provide the database of standardized electronic mail addresses on-line.

5. The program storage device according to claim 4, wherein the instructions are further operable to locate the standardized electronic mail address of the individual in the database.

6. The program storage device according to claim 1, wherein the instructions are further operable to:

determine whether the standardized electronic mail address generated for the individual based on the personal name code and the location code is non-unique, and

wherein upon determining that the standardized electronic mail address generated is non-unique, generating the standardized electronic mail address for the individual by attaching a unique numeric indicator to the standardized electronic mail address.

7. A system for generating and providing access to standardized electronic mail addresses for individuals in a geographical region, the system comprising:

a. one or more computers configured to;

(1) collect name and known location data of an individual from an information source;

(2) create an at least partial entry for the individual in an index of individuals in a database, the at least partial entry being created once the name data and the known location data of the individual are collected;

(3) generate a standardized electronic mail address for the individual once both the name and the known location data have been collected wherein;

(a) the name data includes at least a family name of the individual, and

(b) the known location data includes one or more of

(i) a country specific postal address locator code,

(ii) a region specific portion of a telephone number, the standardized electronic mail address including;

i. a personal name code indicative of the name data of the individual, the personal name code including the family name of the individual;

ii. a location code indicative of the known location data of the individual; and

wherein the standardized electronic mail address for the individual is based on the personal name code and the location code;

and wherein one or more standardized email addresses are automatically created for each individual in a country, geographic region or state associated with the individual, without the individual providing name and known location data to the system;

(4) submit the standardized electronic mail address for the individual to the database; and

b. a computer including a search engine for searching the database using the personal name code and the location code to locate the standardized electronic mail address associated with the individual.

8. The system according to claim 7, wherein the one or more computers are also configured to associate one or more subsidiary addresses, including existing electronic addresses, with the standardized electronic mail address of the individual in the database.

9. The system according to claim 7, wherein the one or more computers are also configured to attach a unique numeric identifier to the standardized electronic mail address of the individual.

10. The system of claim 7, wherein the one or more computers provide the database of standardized electronic mail addresses on-line.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the one or more computers locate the standardized electronic mail address of the individual in the database.

12. The system of claim 7, wherein the one or more computers also:

a. determine whether the standardized electronic mail address generated for the individual based on the personal name code and the location code is non-unique, and

b. upon determining that the standardized electronic mail address generated is non-unique, generate the standardized electronic mail address for the individual by attaching an unique numeric indicator to the standardized electronic mail address.

13. A method for generating and providing access to standardized electronic mail addresses for individuals in a geographical region, the method comprising one or more computers:

a. collecting name data and location data of an individual from one or more preexisting databases;

b. creating an at least partial entry for the individual in an index of individuals in an index database, the at least partial entry being created once any name data and location data of the individual are collected from the one or more preexisting databases;

c. generating a standardized electronic mail address for the individual after the at least partial entry for the individual has been created in the index, wherein;

(1) the standardized electronic mail address is generated once;

(a) the collected name data includes at least a family name of the individual, and

(b) the collected location data includes one or more of

(i) a country specific postal address locator code,

(ii) a region specific portion of a telephone number,

(2) the standardized electronic mail address includes;

(a) a personal name field, the personal name portion including at least the family name for the individual;

(b) a location field, the location portion including at least a portion of the collected location data for the individual;

wherein one or more standardized email addresses are automatically created for each individual in a country, geographic region or state associated with the individual, without the individual providing name and known location data to the computers;

d. storing the standardized electronic mail address in the index database in association with the corresponding name data and location data for the individual;

e. accepting search queries from users, the search queries including one or more of;

(1) name data, and

(2) location data, and

f. returning search results to the users, the search results including one or more standardized electronic mail addresses corresponding to one or more of the name data and location data accepted in the user search queries.