System and method of publishing contact information
First Claim
1. A computer-implemented method of publishing contact information, the method comprising:
- receiving, at a server, a command to publish a collection of contacts to a plurality of recipients, wherein the collection of contacts is maintained by a network address book service associated with a network address book of a sender;
receiving a distribution list that identifies the plurality of recipients;
determining whether each recipient of the plurality of recipients is a customer of the network address book service;
sending an automated message to each recipient of the plurality of recipients that is a non-customer of the network address book service, wherein the automated message includes an invitation to become a customer of the network address book service;
sending a notification from the server to each recipient of the plurality of recipients that is a customer of the network address book service, including any recipient that accepted the invitation to become a customer of the network address book service, wherein the notification includes an option to subscribe to the collection of contacts and an option to receive a preview of the collection of contacts;
converting the collection of contacts to one or more formats displayable by devices associated with recipients that subscribed to receive access to the collection of contacts, including any recipient that accepted the invitation to become a customer and subscribed to receive access to the collection of contacts; and
sending the collection of contacts from the server to each recipient that subscribed to the collection of contacts, wherein the collection of contacts is sent to a device associated with a particular recipient in a format usable by the device.
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Abstract
A system and method of publishing contact information is disclosed. In a particular embodiment, the method includes receiving a command to publish a collection of contacts to a plurality of recipients, where the collection of contacts is associated with a network address book of a sender. The method also includes receiving a distribution list that identifies the plurality of recipients. Additionally, the method includes sending a notification to each of the plurality of recipients, where the notification includes an invitation to subscribe to the collection of contacts. The method also includes sending the collection of contacts to at least one of the plurality of recipients who subscribes to the collection of contacts.
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Citations
15 Claims
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1. A computer-implemented method of publishing contact information, the method comprising:
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receiving, at a server, a command to publish a collection of contacts to a plurality of recipients, wherein the collection of contacts is maintained by a network address book service associated with a network address book of a sender; receiving a distribution list that identifies the plurality of recipients; determining whether each recipient of the plurality of recipients is a customer of the network address book service; sending an automated message to each recipient of the plurality of recipients that is a non-customer of the network address book service, wherein the automated message includes an invitation to become a customer of the network address book service; sending a notification from the server to each recipient of the plurality of recipients that is a customer of the network address book service, including any recipient that accepted the invitation to become a customer of the network address book service, wherein the notification includes an option to subscribe to the collection of contacts and an option to receive a preview of the collection of contacts; converting the collection of contacts to one or more formats displayable by devices associated with recipients that subscribed to receive access to the collection of contacts, including any recipient that accepted the invitation to become a customer and subscribed to receive access to the collection of contacts; and sending the collection of contacts from the server to each recipient that subscribed to the collection of contacts, wherein the collection of contacts is sent to a device associated with a particular recipient in a format usable by the device. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 15)
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8. A system to publish contact information, the system comprising a server including a processor configured to:
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receive a distribution list of a collection of contacts maintained by a network address book service at the server, wherein the distribution list is received from a sender; determine whether each recipient in the distribution list is a customer of the network address book service; prompt the sender for an email address of each recipient in the distribution list that is not a customer of the network address book service; send an automated message to each email address received in response to the prompt, wherein the automated message includes an invitation to become a customer of the network address book service; send a notification from the server to each recipient of the plurality of recipients that is a customer of the network address book service, including any recipient that accepted the invitation to become a customer of the network address book service, wherein the notification includes an option to subscribe to the collection of contacts and an option to receive a preview of the collection of contacts; convert the collection of contacts to one or more formats displayable by devices associated with recipients that subscribed to receive access to the collection of contacts, including any recipient that accepted the invitation to become a customer of the network address book service and subscribed to receive access to the collection of contacts; and send the collection of contacts from the server to each recipient that subscribed to the collection of contacts, wherein the collection of contacts is sent to a device associated with a particular recipient in a format usable by the device. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11)
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12. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising operational instructions, that when executed by a processor, cause the processor to:
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receive a command to publish a collection of contacts maintained by a network address book service to one or more recipients identified in a distribution list; determine whether each recipient identified in the distribution list is a customer of the network address book service; send an automated message to each recipient identified in the distribution list that is not a customer of the network address book service, wherein the automated message includes an invitation to become a customer of the network address book service; send a notification to at least one electronic device associated with each recipient identified in the distribution list that is a customer of the network address book service, including any recipient that accepted the invitation to become a customer of the network address book service, wherein the notification includes an invitation to subscribe to receive access to the collection of contacts and an option to receive a preview of the collection of contacts before subscribing; convert the collection of contacts to a format displayable by the at least one electronic device associated with a particular recipient that subscribed to receive access to the collection of contacts, wherein the particular recipient is one of a recipient that was determined to be a customer of the network address book service and a recipient that accepted the invitation to become a customer of the network address book service; and send the formatted collection of contacts to the at least one electronic device associated with the particular recipient. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14)
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Specification