Method and system for collecting contact information from contact sources and tracking contact sources
First Claim
1. A method in a computer system for synchronizing contact information of contacts, the method being performed by an application associated with a contact store that stores contact information of contacts collected from different contact sources, the method comprising:
- collecting from the different contact sources contact information of contacts associated with a user;
for contacts for whom contact information was collected, storing in the contact store the contact information along with an indication of the contact sources from which the contact information was collected, each contact source having an associated application for updating contact information of the contact source;
for each of a plurality of contacts whose contact information was collected from different contact sources,receiving from a user a request to update contact information of the contact;
identifying from the contact store the contact source from which the contact information of the contact was collected; and
requesting the application associated with the identified contact source to provide a user interface through which the user can update contact information of the contact that is stored in the identified contact source; and
for each contact source from which contact information was collected,when the contact source supports providing update event notifications,registering to receive update event notifications from the contact source for contact information of the contact source that has been updated; and
when an update event notification is received for the contact source, updating contact information of the contact store to reflect the update to contact information at the contact source;
when the contact source does not support providing update event notifications,periodically polling the contact source to determine whether any contact information of the contact source has been updated; and
when the polling indicates that contact information has been updated, updating contact information of the contact store to reflect the update to contact information at the contact sourceso that after contact information of a contact is updated at the contact source of the contact through the user interface provided by the application associated with the contact source, the contact information of the contact is updated at the contact store based on event notification received from the contact source or polling of the contact source.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method and system for aggregating contact information of contacts from multiple contact sources is provided. The aggregation system collects contact information for a user from various contact sources. The aggregation system stores the collected content information in a contact data store. The aggregation system may also store an indication of the contact source of the collected contact information. The aggregation system provides a user interface through which the user may search the contact information of the contact data store to find contact information of contacts that are collected from the different contact sources. The aggregation system allows a user to add a contact to a real-time contact list to enable real-time communications with that contact.
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Citations
15 Claims
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1. A method in a computer system for synchronizing contact information of contacts, the method being performed by an application associated with a contact store that stores contact information of contacts collected from different contact sources, the method comprising:
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collecting from the different contact sources contact information of contacts associated with a user; for contacts for whom contact information was collected, storing in the contact store the contact information along with an indication of the contact sources from which the contact information was collected, each contact source having an associated application for updating contact information of the contact source; for each of a plurality of contacts whose contact information was collected from different contact sources, receiving from a user a request to update contact information of the contact; identifying from the contact store the contact source from which the contact information of the contact was collected; and requesting the application associated with the identified contact source to provide a user interface through which the user can update contact information of the contact that is stored in the identified contact source; and for each contact source from which contact information was collected, when the contact source supports providing update event notifications, registering to receive update event notifications from the contact source for contact information of the contact source that has been updated; and when an update event notification is received for the contact source, updating contact information of the contact store to reflect the update to contact information at the contact source; when the contact source does not support providing update event notifications, periodically polling the contact source to determine whether any contact information of the contact source has been updated; and when the polling indicates that contact information has been updated, updating contact information of the contact store to reflect the update to contact information at the contact source so that after contact information of a contact is updated at the contact source of the contact through the user interface provided by the application associated with the contact source, the contact information of the contact is updated at the contact store based on event notification received from the contact source or polling of the contact source. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A computer-readable storage medium containing instructions for controlling a computer system to synchronize contact information of contacts, by a method performed by an application associated with a contact store that stores contact information of contacts collected from different contact sources, the method comprising:
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collecting from the different contact sources contact information of contacts associated with a user, each contact source having an associated application for updating contact information of the contact source; for contacts for whom contact information was collected from a contact source, storing in the contact store the contact information along with an indication of the contact source; receiving a request from a user to update contact information of a contact that is stored in the contact store; requesting an application associated with the contact source to provide a user interface through which the user can update the contact information of the contact stored at the contact source of the contact as indicated by the contact store; receiving updates to the collected contact information from the contact sources by for each contact source from which contact information was collected, when the contact source supports providing update event notifications, registering to receive updates from the contact source for contact information of the contact source that has been updated; and when an update event notification is received for the contact source, updating contact information of the contact store to reflect the update to contact information at the contact source; and when contact source does not support providing update event notifications, periodically polling the contact source to retrieve updates to the contact source; and updating contact information of the content store to reflect the update to contact information at the contact source so that the contact sources and the contact store have synchronized contact information by after the contact information of contacts can be updated through the user interfaces provided by the applications associated with the contact sources, the contact information of the contacts is updated at the contact store based on update event notifications received from the contact sources or polling of the contact sources. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15)
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Specification