Shared distribution lists for distribution of audio content using mobile telecommunication devices

• US 8,316,062 B1
• Filed: 09/07/2007
• Issued: 11/20/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 09/07/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Pinger Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Pinger Incorporated
• Inventors: Sipher, Joseph K., Cloutier, Jocelyn F.
• Primary Examiner(s): Wilson, Kimberly
• Assistant Examiner(s): Uddin, Mohammed R
• Application Number:
  US11/852,050
• Time in Patent Office: 1,901 Days
• Field of Search: 707/104, 707/804, 707/802, 707/999.102
• US Class Current: 707/804
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]

Abstract

A method and system for automatically populating contact information using an voice message addressed to a distribution list. In one example method, a new distribution list is identified that contains the telephone numbers or other contact information of a group of intended recipients. The contact information for the recipients is identified, and the contact information databases at least one of the recipients is automatically populated with the contact information of the other recipients and/or the distribution list information.

Claims

1. A method for automatically populating contact databases, the method comprising:

receiving an electronic message addressed to a distribution list comprising a list of recipient members, each recipient member having a contact database;

obtaining contact information for the recipient members; and

responsive to receiving the electronic message addressed to the distribution list, automatically populating a contact database of each recipient member of the distribution list by adding, to each recipient member'"'"'s contact database, contact information pertaining to each other recipient member of the distribution list;

wherein adding the contact information comprises adding, to each recipient member'"'"'s contact database, at least one new member record which was not present in the recipient member'"'"'s contact database, the new member record containing contact information of another recipient member.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

responsive to receiving the electronic message addressed to the distribution list, automatically populating a contact database of each recipient member of the distribution list by adding, to each recipient member'"'"'s contact database, information describing the distribution list.

3. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein obtaining contact information for the recipient members further comprises extracting the contact information for the recipient members from the distribution list, and wherein the contact information added to each recipient member'"'"'s contact database comprises contact information extracted from the distribution list.

4. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the obtained contact information comprises at least one of a full name, a job title, a company name, a home address, a business address, a business telephone number, a home telephone number, a fax number, a mobile telephone number, an email address, a webpage address, and an instant messaging address.

5. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein obtaining contact information for the recipient members further comprises retrieving the contact information from a sender of the electronic message.

6. The method as recited in claim 5, wherein retrieving the con-tact information from a sender of the electronic message further comprises:

sending a request message to the sender of the electronic message for the contact information; and

receiving a response message from the sender containing the con-tact information.

7. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein obtaining contact information for the recipient members further comprises retrieving the contact information from a central database containing contact information for multiple users.

8. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein adding the contact information to each recipient member'"'"'s contact database further comprises populating an address book stored locally at the recipient member'"'"'s mobile device with the contact information.

9. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein adding the contact information to each recipient member'"'"'s contact database further comprises populating an address book stored locally at the recipient member'"'"'s computer with the contact information.

10. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein adding the contact information to each recipient member'"'"'s contact database further comprises populating an address book stored at a central server and associated with the recipient member with the contact information.

11. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the electronic message comprises a voice message sent from a mobile telephone of a sender.

12. A method for automatically populating contact databases, the method comprising:

receiving an electronic message addressed to a distribution list comprising a list of recipient members, each recipient member having a contact database; and

responsive to receiving the electronic message addressed to the distribution list, automatically populating a contact database of each recipient member of the distribution list by adding, to each recipient member'"'"'s contact database, at least one new member record which was not present in the recipient member'"'"'s contact database, the new member record describing the distribution list, the distribution list comprising contact information for at least one other recipient member.

13. The method as recited in claim 12, further comprising:

obtaining contact information for the recipient members; and

responsive to receiving the electronic message addressed to the distribution list, automatically populating a contact database of each recipient member of the distribution list by adding, to each recipient member'"'"'s contact database, contact information pertaining to each other recipient member of the distribution list;

wherein adding the contact information comprises adding, to each recipient member'"'"'s contact database, at least one new member record which was not present in the recipient member'"'"'s contact database, the new member record containing contact information of another recipient member.

14. The method as recited in claim 13, wherein obtaining contact information for the recipient members further comprises retrieving the contact information from a central database containing contact information for multiple users.

15. The method as recited in claim 13, wherein obtaining contact information for the recipient members further comprises extracting the contact information from the distribution list, and wherein the contact information added to each recipient member'"'"'s contact database comprises contact information extracted from the distribution list.

16. The method as recited in claim 13, wherein the obtained contact information comprises at least one of a full name, a job title, a company name, a home address, a business address, a business telephone num-ber, a home telephone number, a fax number, a mobile telephone number, an email address, a webpage address, and an instant messaging address.

17. The method as recited in claim 13, wherein obtaining contact information for the recipient members further comprises retrieving the contact information from a sender of the electronic message.

18. The method as recited in claim 17, wherein retrieving the contact information from a sender of the electronic message further comprises:

sending a request message to the sender of the electronic message for the contact information; and

receiving a response message from the sender containing the con-tact information.

19. The method as recited in claim 12, wherein adding at least one new record describing the distribution list to each recipient member'"'"'s contact database further comprises populating an address book stored locally at the recipient member'"'"'s mobile device with the distribution list.

20. The method as recited in claim 12, wherein adding at least one new record describing the distribution list to each recipient member'"'"'s contact database further comprises populating an address book stored locally at the recipient member'"'"'s computer with the distribution list.

21. The method as recited in claim 12, wherein adding at least one new entry describing the distribution list to each recipient member'"'"'s contact database further comprises populating an address book stored at a central server and associated with the recipient member with the new distribution list.

22. The method as recited in claim 12, wherein the electronic message comprises a voice message sent from a mobile telephone of a sender.

23. A method for automatically populating contact databases, the method comprising:

receiving an electronic message addressed to a plurality of recipients, each recipient having a contact database;

obtaining contact information for the recipients; and

responsive to receiving the electronic message addressed to the plurality of recipients, automatically populating a contact database of each recipient by adding, to each recipient'"'"'s contact database, contact information pertaining to each other recipient;

wherein adding the contact information comprises adding, to each recipient'"'"'s contact database, at least one new member record which was not present in the recipient'"'"'s contact database, the new member record containing contact information of another recipient.