Auto update utility for digital address books

• US 7,505,974 B2
• Filed: 10/01/2001
• Issued: 03/17/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 02/12/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Robert L Gropper
• Inventors: Gropper, Robert L.
• Primary Examiner(s): Fleurantin, Jean B
• Application Number:
  US09/969,503
• Publication Number:
  US 20020049610A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,724 Days
• Field of Search: 707 1- 10, 707100-1041, 707200-206, 709/203, 709/206, 709217-219, 709/226, 709/245
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising

Abstract

An Internet-based system capable of automatically maintaining contact-related information in any computer software application or digital device which stores or manages contact-related information. More particularly, the system allows users to automatically enter and maintain contact-related information in a digital address book or similar application or device (such as a wireless phone or PDA) with minimal or no manual entry of the contact-related information by the user. The system also allows contacts of the user (i.e. people who'"'"'s contact information or partial contact information is present in the user'"'"'s address book application) to make corrections to their contact-related information contained in the user'"'"'s address book, request reciprocal contact information from the user, deny the user access to additional or corrected contact-related information and take other actions relative to managing the contact-related information which others (users) have about them.

Claims

1. A method in a network with client and server computers for a user to deny requests from a sender for updates of contact information, comprising:

a. on a client computer, receiving from a server directed to a client address a request for updated contact information generated by the server, the request including a sender identifier and a copy of existing contact information from an address book data structure associated with the sender identifier;

b. presenting on a display on the client computer information identifying a sender of the request and the existing contact information from the address book data structure associated with the sender identifier,

c. in response to user input received after the information identifying the sender and the existing contact information is presented on the display, sending to the server a command to deny the request and future requests having the sender identifier,

d. on the server, establishing a deny tag such that no future requests for updated contact information having that sender identifier will be sent to the client address from the server until the deny tag is removed.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the existing contact information is provided to the client computer in the form of a web page responding to a query from a web browser program on the client computer.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the existing contact information is provided to the client computer in the form of an e-mail sent from the server to the client computer.