Phone dialer with advanced search feature and associated method of searching a directory

• US 8,150,017 B2
• Filed: 07/11/2008
• Issued: 04/03/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 07/11/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Gharachorloo, Nader, Relyea, Donald H., Roberts, Brian
• Primary Examiner(s): ADDY, THJUAN KNOWLIN
• Application Number:
  US12/171,748
• Publication Number:
  US 20100008490A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,362 Days
• Field of Search: 379/216.01, 379/201.01, 379/201.04, 455/575.1, 455/414.1, 707/721, 1/1
• US Class Current: 379/216.01
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/2748 by matching character strings
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/724 User interfaces specially adapted for cordless or mobile telephones
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72469 for operating the device by selecting functions from two or more displayed items, e.g. menus or icons

Abstract

A method of retrieving a directory listing includes steps of storing a plurality of directory listings, each listing searchable by a plurality of keys, each of the keys comprising a plurality of symbols selected from a subset of an alphabet; receiving a sequence of inputs each designating a plurality of the symbols; identifying a number of the directory listings having at least one of the keys consistent with the sequence of inputs; displaying candidate ones of the directory listing having the at least one of the keys consistent with the sequence of inputs; and selecting one of the candidate directory listings to be contacted.

Claims

1. A method comprising the steps of:

storing a plurality of directory listings comprising a plurality of names and network addresses, each directory listing included in said plurality of directory listings searchable by a plurality of keys included in a telephone keypad, each of said keys comprising a plurality of symbols selected from a subset of an alphabet;

receiving a first user input representative of a selected key among said plurality of keys to initiate a rolling search of said directory listings;

identifying, in response to said first user input, one or more directory listings included in said plurality of directory listings that begin with one of said symbols on said selected key; and

displaying, in response to said first user input, data representing said identified one or more directory listings within a user interface.

2. The method according to claim 1 wherein said step of displaying is in response to said number of identified directory listings being equal to or less than a maximum displayable number of listings.

3. The method according to claim 1 wherein each of said directory listings is searchable by at least one of the names and the network addresses.

4. The method according to claim 1 wherein said network addresses are selected from the group consisting of telephone numbers, email addresses, Internet Protocol (IP) address, and Uniform Resource Locator (URL).

5. The method according to claim 1 wherein each of said keys comprises a defined set of at least one numeric symbol and two alphabetic symbols.

6. The method according to claim 1 wherein the plurality of keys comprises at least ten keys, said ten keys respectively associated with the set of symbols including {1}, {2, A, B, C}, {3, D, E, F}, {4, G, H, I}, {5, J, K, L}, {6, M, N, O}, {7, P, R, S}, {8, T, U, V}, {9, W, X, Y} and {0}.

7. The method according to claim 1 further comprising continuing to receive a sequence of one or more additional user inputs representative of one or more additional selected keys until a single directory listing included in the plurality of directory listings is unambiguously identified.

8. The method according to claim 1 wherein said step of displaying data representing said identified one or more directory listings within the user interface includes ordering said one or more directory listings within the user interface based on a recency of access.

9. The method according to claim 1 wherein said step of displaying data representing said identified one or more directory listings within the user interface includes ordering said one or more directory listings based on a number of calls made to respective ones of said directory listings.

10. The method according to claim 1 further comprising steps of associating a preferred contact mode with each of said directory listings and supplying a network address associated with each of said preferred contact modes.

11. The method according to claim 10 wherein said preferred contact modes are selected from the group consisting of landline telephone, home telephone, office telephone, cellular telephone, email, instant messaging and voice mail.

12. The method according to claim 10 further comprising a step of initiating contact with a party associated with a selected directory listing using said preferred contact mode.

18. The method of claim 1, further comprising applying a placement heuristic to the identified one or more directory listings to determine a placement of the identified one or more directory listings within the user interface.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein said identified one or more directory listings comprise a plurality of identified directory listings, and wherein the placement heuristic is configured to place one or more of the identified directory listings that include a last name that begins with one of said symbols on said selected key higher within the user interface than one or more of the identified directory listings that do not include a last name that begins with one of said symbols on said selected key.

20. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a second user input representative of another selected key among said plurality of keys;

identifying a filtered set of one or more directory listings included in the plurality of directory listings that begin with at least one of the symbols represented by the first user input followed by at least one of the symbols represented by the second user input; and

displaying data representative of the filtered set of one or more directory listings in place of the data representative of the identified one or more directory listings within the user interface.

13. An apparatus comprising:

a memory storing a plurality of directory listings comprising a plurality of names and network addresses, each directory listing included in the plurality of directory listings searchable by a plurality of keys, each of said keys comprising a plurality of symbols selected from a subset of an alphabet;

a keypad manually operable for receiving a first user input representative of a selected key among the plurality of keys to initiate a rolling search of said directory listings;

a processor configured to identify, in response to said first user input, one or more directory listings included in said plurality of directory listings that begin with one of said symbols on said selected key; and

a display configured to display, in response to said first user input, data representing said identified one or more directory listings with a user interface.

14. The apparatus according to claim 13 wherein said display is responsive to said number of identified directory listings being equal to or less than a maximum displayable number of listings.

15. The apparatus according to claim 13 wherein said processor is further configured to associate a preferred contact mode with each of said directory listings and supply a network address associated with each of said preferred contact modes.

16. The apparatus according to claim 15 wherein said network address is a telephone number or email address and said preferred contact modes are selected from the group consisting of home telephone, office telephone, cellular telephone, email, instant messaging and voice mail.

17. A computer program product comprising at least one computer-readable storage medium having computer-readable program code portions stored therein, the computer-readable program code portions comprising:

a first executable portion for storing a plurality of directory listings comprising a plurality of names and network addresses, each directory listing included in the plurality of directory listings searchable by a plurality of keys included in a telephone keypad, each of said keys comprising a plurality of symbols selected from a subset of an alphabet;

a second executable portion for receiving a first user input representative of a selected key among the plurality of keys to initiate a rolling search of said directory listings;

a third executable portion for identifying, in response to said first user input, one or more directory listings in said plurality of directory listings that begin with one of said symbols on said selected key;

a fourth executable portion for displaying, in response to said first user input, data representing the identified one or more directory listings within a user interface.