System and method for generating a dynamic prioritized contact list

• US 8,009,678 B2
• Filed: 03/17/2005
• Issued: 08/30/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 03/17/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Brooke, Timothy Lawrence
• Primary Examiner(s): Ngo; Ricky
• Assistant Examiner(s): SAMUEL, DEWANDA A
• Application Number:
  US11/084,463
• Publication Number:
  US 20060209690A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,357 Days
• Field of Search: 370/230, 370/465, 370/252, 370/395.42, 455/518
• US Class Current: 370/395.42
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/109 Time management, e.g. calendars, reminders, meetings or time accounting
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/226 Delivery according to priorities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/48 Message addressing, e.g. address format or anonymous messages, aliases
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/2746 Sorting, e.g. according to history or frequency of use
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72451 according to schedules, e.g. using calendar applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/183 Processing at user equipment or user record carrier

Abstract

A system and method for generating a dynamic prioritized contact list for a communication device. The dynamic prioritized contact list may vary over the course of the day to provide an optimized contact list for a time interval. A prioritized contact list generator determines a current time interval. The prioritized contact list generator monitors communications from one or more past time intervals to determine contact priority for the current time interval. A prioritized contact list is generated for the current time interval based on the contact priority. The prioritized contact list generator automatically updates the dynamic prioritized contact list with priority changes when the current time interval expires.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for execution on a computing device for generating a dynamic prioritized contact list, the computer-implemented method comprising:

determining a current time interval on the computing device;

accessing a communication history database, wherein the communication history database stores contact frequencies of contact identifiers that occurred in the past;

determining the contact frequencies of the contact identifiers for past time intervals that correspond to a same time interval of the current time interval;

causing a processor to prioritize contact identifiers based on the contact frequencies during the past time intervals that correspond to the current time interval, wherein a contact identifier with the greatest contact frequency is indicated with a highest priority; and

generating a display of a prioritized contact list based on the prioritized contact identifiers determined from the past time intervals.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein determining a current time interval further includes accessing a clock and determining a current time interval from the clock.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the current time interval includes at least one member of a group comprising:

a current time, a current minute, a current hour, a current day, a current week, a current month and a current year.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein super priority of at least one appointment scheduler contact assigned to an appointment causes the inclusion of the at least one appointment scheduler contact assigned to the appointment in the prioritized contact list, wherein the prioritized contact list includes contacts based on the communication history database.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein super priority of at least one appointment scheduler contact assigned to an appointment causes the inclusion of the at least one appointment scheduler contact assigned to the appointment in the prioritized contact list, wherein the prioritized contact list does not include contacts based on the communication history database.

4. A computer-readable storage memory for generating a dynamic prioritized contact list for a communication device, comprising:

determining a current time interval of a current day;

accessing a communication history database, wherein the communication history database stores contact frequencies for past time intervals on the computing device;

prioritizing contact identifiers based on the contact frequencies during each of the past time intervals that correspond to a same time period of the current time interval, wherein a contact identifier with the greatest contact frequency is indicated with a highest priority; and

generating the prioritized contact list for the current time interval based on the prioritized contact identifiers determined from the past time intervals.

10. The computer-readable storage memory of claim 4, wherein super priority of at least one appointment scheduler contact assigned to an appointment causes the inclusion of the at least one appointment scheduler contact assigned to the appointment in the prioritized contact list, wherein the prioritized contact list includes contacts based on the communication history database.

11. The computer-readable storage memory of claim 4, wherein super priority of at least one appointment scheduler contact assigned to an appointment causes the inclusion of the at least one appointment scheduler contact assigned to the appointment in the prioritized contact list, wherein the prioritized contact list does not include contacts based on the communication history database.

5. A communication device for providing a dynamic prioritized contact list to a user interface of the communication device, comprising:

a communication history database configured to store contact identifiers of the communication device in association with a prior contact frequency and in association with a prior time interval;

an appointment scheduler configured to store an appointment having at least one appointment scheduler contact assigned to the appointment; and

a prioritized dynamic list generator configured to;

access a clock to determine a current time interval,

access the communication history database to determine a plurality of past time intervals that corresponds to the current time interval, each of the past time intervals being a predetermined amount of time,

determine contact priority based on the prior contact frequency during the plurality of the past time intervals, wherein a contact identifier with the greatest contact frequency is indicated with a highest priority,

generate a prioritized contact list based on the determined contact priority, wherein the contact identifier with the greatest contact frequency is indicated with the highest priority in the prioritized contact list,

access the appointment scheduler to determine whether the appointment is within the current time interval; and

adjust the priority to the at least one appointment scheduler contact assigned to the appointment, when the appointment is within the current time interval.

6. The communication device of claim 5, wherein the communication device includes at least one member of a group comprising:

a telephone, a cellular telephone, a satellite telephone, a pager, a desktop computing device, a mobile computing device and a televising device.

7. The communication device of claim 5, wherein the communication includes at least one member of a group comprising:

a telephone communication, a cellular telephone communication, an e-mail communication, a text messaging communication, and a Short Messaging Service communication.

12. The communication device of claim 5, wherein the indicated super priority of the at least one appointment scheduler contact assigned to the appointment causes the inclusion of the at least one appointment scheduler contact assigned to the appointment in the prioritized contact list, wherein the prioritized contact list includes contacts based on the communication history database.