Apparatuses for requesting, retrieving and storing contact records

• US 8,798,584 B1
• Filed: 11/04/2012
• Issued: 08/05/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 11/07/2002
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Joseph G. Swan
• Original Assignee: Joseph G. Swan
• Inventors: Swan, Joseph G.
• Primary Examiner(s): TRINH, TAN H
• Application Number:
  US13/668,309
• Time in Patent Office: 639 Days
• Field of Search: 455/412.1, 455/412.2, 455/456.2, 455/415, 455/556.2, 705/14, 705/26, 705/27, 705/8, 705/9, 707/1, 707/8, 707/9, 707/10, 707/14, 707/104, 707/200, 707/758, 707/5, 707/7, 709/217, 709/222, 709/229, 709/206, 709/226, 709/218, 709/245, 709/203, 709/238, 380/279
• US Class Current: 455/412.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42365 Presence services providing information on the willingness to communicate or the ability to communicate in terms of media capability or network connectivity
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/4931 Directory assistance systems
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99931 Database or file accessing

Abstract

Provided are wireless and standalone handheld devices, such as PDAs and wireless telephones, that are configured for inputting a unique contact identifier that uniquely identifies a desired contact record, querying a central database of contact information to obtain the desired contact record, receiving the record and storing it. In various embodiments, such requests can be made directly over a wireless network or indirectly when synchronizing the handheld device with a computer connected to the Internet or to another network.

Claims

1. A computer-readable medium storing computer-executable process steps for supplementing the contents of an electronic address book, said process steps comprising steps of:

inputting a designation of a contact record within an electronic address book;

based on said designation, creating a request message that includes at least one of;

(i) contact information from said contact record or (ii) information identifying said contact record;

transmitting the request message to a central hub that maintains and distributes contact information;

receiving information from the central hub in response to the transmitted request message; and

incorporating the received information into the contact record.

2. A computer-readable medium according to claim 1, wherein the request message includes contact information from said contact record, and wherein the contact record was not originally obtained by the electronic address book from the central hub.

3. A computer-readable medium according to claim 1, wherein said process steps further comprise steps of inputting and following user-specified instructions indicating that only certain fields are to be updated.

4. A computer-readable medium according to claim 1, wherein said designation includes only certain specified contact records within the electronic address book.

5. A computer-readable medium according to claim 1, wherein said designation includes only those contact records that originally were obtained from the central hub.

6. A computer-readable medium according to claim 1, wherein said process steps further comprise a step of displaying the received information prior to incorporating it into the contact record.

7. A computer-readable medium according to claim 1, wherein the received information automatically is incorporated into the contact record.

8. A computer-readable medium according to claim 1, wherein the designated contact record includes plural different contact information fields.

9. A computer-readable medium according to claim 1, wherein the information is retrieved from the contact information that is maintained and distributed by the central hub, wherein all of said contact information maintained and distributed by the central hub is accessible by each of a plurality of different end users, and wherein said different end users include at least one of the general public or all registered users.

10. A computer-readable medium according to claim 1, wherein said designation of the contact record has been made by an end user.

11. A computer-readable medium according to claim 1, wherein said designation includes the entire electronic address book.

12. A computer-readable medium according to claim 1, wherein said designation occurs as a result of keystrokes being entered by an end user to input information into the contact record.

13. A computer-readable medium according to claim 1, wherein the contact information maintained by the central hub is accessible without requiring individual permissions from contacts corresponding to said contact information.

14. A computer-readable medium according to claim 1, wherein the contact information maintained by the central hub is widely open to members of the general public.

15. A computer-readable medium according to claim 14, wherein the request message includes contact information from said contact record, and wherein the contact record was not originally obtained by the electronic address book from the central hub.

16. A computer-readable medium according to claim 14, wherein said designation of the contact record has been made by an end user.

17. A computer-readable medium according to claim 14, wherein said designation occurs as a result of keystrokes being entered by an end user to input information into the contact record.

18. A computer-readable medium according to claim 14, wherein there is wide flexibility in specifying contact identification information in the transmitted request message to receive said information from the central hub.

19. A computer-readable medium according to claim 18, wherein said contact identification information comprises arbitrary search parameters.

20. A computer-readable medium according to claim 14, wherein the transmitted request message is sent via a wireless connection to a public wireless service provider.

21. A computer-readable medium according to claim 14, wherein the request message includes a scanned-in contact identifier.

22. A computer-readable medium according to claim 14, wherein the information received from the central hub includes at least one of a graphic or a photograph.

23. A computer-readable medium according to claim 1, wherein the central hub permits any end user to retrieve the contact information.

24. An apparatus for implementing and supplementing the contents of an electronic address book, comprising:

an electronic address book that stores contact information records;

means for inputting a designation of a contact record within said electronic address book;

means for creating a request message, based on said designation, that includes at least one of;

(i) contact information from said contact record or (ii) information identifying said contact record;

means for transmitting the request message to a central hub that maintains and distributes contact information;

means for receiving information from the central hub in response to the transmitted request message; and

means for incorporating the received information into the contact record.

25. An apparatus according to claim 24, wherein the request message includes contact information from said contact record, and wherein the contact record did not originate from the central hub.

26. An apparatus according to claim 24, further comprising means for inputting and following user-specified instructions indicating that only certain fields are to be updated.

27. An apparatus according to claim 24, wherein said designation includes only certain specified contact records within the electronic address book.

28. An apparatus according to claim 24, wherein said designation includes only those contact records that originally were obtained from the central hub.

29. An apparatus according to claim 24, further comprising means for displaying the received information prior to incorporating it into the contact record.

30. An apparatus according to claim 24, wherein the received information automatically is incorporated into the contact record.

31. An apparatus according to claim 24, wherein the designated contact record includes plural different contact information fields.

32. An apparatus according to claim 24, wherein the information is retrieved from the contact information that is maintained and distributed by the central hub, wherein all of said contact information maintained and distributed by the central hub is accessible by each of a plurality of different end users, and wherein said different end users include at least one of the general public or all registered users.

33. An apparatus according to claim 24, wherein said designation of the contact record has been made by an end user of said apparatus.

34. An apparatus according to claim 24, wherein said designation includes the entire electronic address book.

35. An apparatus according to claim 24, wherein the contact information maintained by the central hub is accessible without requiring individual permissions from contacts corresponding to said contact information.

36. An apparatus according to claim 24, wherein the contact information maintained by the central hub is widely open to members of the general public.

37. An apparatus according to claim 24, wherein the central hub generally permits any end user to retrieve the contact information.