System and method of sharing a contact list among mobile phones

• US 7,613,472 B2
• Filed: 09/17/2003
• Issued: 11/03/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 09/17/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Snaptrack Incorporated (Qualcomm, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Northcutt, John W.
• Primary Examiner(s): TRINH, TAN H
• Application Number:
  US10/605,240
• Publication Number:
  US 20050059418A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,239 Days
• Field of Search: 455/466, 455/412.1, 455/414, 455/404.2, 455/558, 455/418, 455/556.1, 455/411, 455/419, 455/412.2, 455/415, 455/41, 455/517, 455/67.7, 455/414.2, 370/349, 370/352, 707/9, 705/1, 705/245, 709/245, 709/229, 709/206, 709/217, 379/93.23
• US Class Current: 455/466
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/189 in combination with wireless systems selective distribution or broadcast in wireless communication networks H04W4/06
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/30 Profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/2757 by data transmission, e.g. downloading
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/7243 with interactive means for internal management of messages

Abstract

A method of sending mobile phone contact list data from one mobile phone to another mobile phone is disclosed. The sender composes an SMS or MMS message having contact data from the mobile phonebook attached. The message is sent using a messaging service like SMS or MMS to other mobile phones in a group. Before receiving mobiles act on the message, a check is determined to see if the message contains contact list data. If it does not, the message is processed normally. If the message does contain contact list data, a software program is launched to manage the received contact list data. The program displays the received mobile phone contact list data so that the mobile phone user can examine the data. An import function is run to resolve conflicts, store and overwrite data into the mobile phone'"'"'s contact database based on the newly received contact list data.

Claims

1. A method of sending a mobile phone contact list from a first mobile phone using a mobile phone messaging service to a group of mobile phones comprising:

displaying the mobile phone contact list of the first mobile phone;

selecting one or more contacts from the mobile phone contact list;

adding contact data for the selected contacts from the mobile phone contact list to a message; and

sending the message containing the contact data for the selected contacts to the group of mobile phones using the mobile phone messaging service, the message containing control data identifying the message as containing a contact list.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the mobile phone messaging service uses a short messaging service (SMS) format.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the mobile phone messaging service uses a multi-media messaging service (MMS) format.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising previewing the message prior to sending the message so that contact data for additional contacts can be added to the message and selected contacts can be deleted.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising displaying the contact data for a selected contact prior to adding the contact to the message.

6. A computer readable medium with instructions stored therein for sending a mobile phone contact list from a first mobile phone to a group of other mobile phones using a mobile phone messaging service, the instructions when executed by a processing device causing the processing device to perform:

displaying the mobile phone contact list of the first mobile phone;

selecting one or more contacts from the mobile phone contact list;

adding contact data for the selected contacts from the mobile phone contact list to a message; and

sending the message containing the contact data for the selected contacts to the group of other mobile phones using the mobile phone messaging service, the message containing control data identifying the message as containing a contact list.

7. The computer readable medium of claim 6 wherein the mobile phone messaging service uses a short messaging service (SMS) format.

8. The computer readable medium of claim 6 wherein the mobile phone messaging service uses a multi-media messaging service (MMS) format.

9. The computer readable medium of claim 6 further comprising computer program code for previewing the message prior to sending the message so that additional contacts can be added to the message and selected contacts can be deleted.

10. The computer readable medium of claim 6 further comprising computer program code for displaying the contact data for a selected contact prior to adding the contact to the message.

11. A method of receiving data for a mobile phone contact list in a first mobile phone sent from a second mobile phone using a mobile phone messaging service comprising:

receiving a message in the first mobile phone from the second mobile phone using the mobile phone messaging service;

determining whether the received message contains data for a contact list and, if so launching a application specific software program to manage the received data for a contact list, otherwise handling the received message normally;

displaying the received data for a contact list;

resolving contact list data conflicts between the received data for a contact list and contact data already stored on the first mobile phone; and

storing the received data for a contact list in a contact list of the first mobile phone.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein the mobile phone messaging service uses a short messaging service (SMS) format.

13. The method of claim 11 wherein the mobile phone messaging service uses a multi-media messaging service (MMS) format.

14. A computer readable medium with instructions stored therein for receiving data for a mobile phone contact list in a first mobile phone sent from a second mobile phone using a mobile phone messaging service, the instructions when executed by a processing device causing the processing device to perform:

receiving a message in the first mobile phone from the second mobile phone using the mobile phone messaging service;

determining whether the received message contains data for a contact list and, if so launching a application specific software program to manage the received data for a contact list, otherwise handling the received message normally;

displaying the received data for a contact list;

resolving contact list data conflicts between the received data for a contact list and contact data already stored on the first mobile phone; and

storing the received data for a contact list in a contact list of the first mobile phone.

15. The computer readable medium of claim 14 wherein the mobile phone messaging service uses a short messaging service (SMS) format.

16. The computer readable medium of claim 14 wherein the mobile phone messaging service uses a multi-media messaging service (MMS) format.