System, apparatus and associated methodology for enriching contact of a remote client

• US 8,942,675 B2
• Filed: 09/04/2009
• Issued: 01/27/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 09/05/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Malikie Innovations Limited (Key Patent Innovations Limited)
• Original Assignee: Good Technology Corporation (Blackberry Limited)
• Inventors: Collins, Tim, Wolovitz, Lionel, Hawkins, Siavash James Joorabchain
• Primary Examiner(s): Batista, Marcos
• Application Number:
  US12/554,428
• Publication Number:
  US 20100144323A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,971 Days
• Field of Search: 455/414, 348 1401- 1407
• US Class Current: 455/414.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/1093 Calendar-based scheduling for persons or groups
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/18 Processing of user or subscriber data, e.g. subscribed services, user preferences or user profiles; Transfer of user or subscriber data

Abstract

A contact enrichment system is provided to determine whether contacts stored in a mobile device match profiles stored on a social network server. Profiles matching the contacts are used to enrich the contacts by appending information such as images and video to the contacts. The appended information in the contacts are also linked to the source profile so that the contact information may be periodically updated. Information may be drawn from multiple profiles on multiple social network servers to fully enrich the contacts stored on the mobile device.

Claims

1. A contact enrichment server, comprising:

a non-transitory data store comprising executable software and one or more links, each link identifying a correspondence between a profile on a social network server and a contact on a mobile device;

a communication module configured to communicate with a first mobile device and a first social network server via one or more data connections;

a processor in data communication with the data store and the communication module, wherein the processor is configured to execute the software and cause the contact enrichment server to;

detect a new message on the first social network server;

identify, based on the new message, a first profile on the first social network server associated with a sender of the new message;

identify, based on the first profile, a first link in the data store, the first link identifying a correspondence between the first profile and a linked contact on the first mobile device associated with the sender of the new message;

transmit alert data to the first mobile device, wherein the alert data is configured to cause a first alert associated with the linked contact to be presented on the first mobile device, the first alert indicating that the new message from the linked contact has been received at the first social network server;

identify, based on the new message, a second profile on a second social network server associated with the sender of the new message;

compare first timestamp data associated with the first profile with second timestamp data associated with the second profile; and

append profile information to the linked contact from one of the first or the second profile having a most recent timestamp.

2. The contact enrichment server according to claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to execute the software and further cause the contact enrichment server to:

append profile information from the first profile to the linked contact.

3. The contact enrichment server according to claim 2, wherein the profile information from the first profile includes at least one of a photo, a video, a phone number, an email address, a postal address, a message or a calendar event.

4. The contact enrichment server according to claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to execute the software and further cause the contact enrichment server to:

append profile information from the second profile to the linked contact.

5. The contact enrichment server according to claim 4, wherein the profile information from the second profile includes at least one of a photo, a video, a phone number, an email address, a postal address, a message or a calendar event.

6. The contact enrichment server according to claim 1, wherein the profile information includes at least one of a photo, a video, a phone number, an email address, a postal address, a message or a calendar event.

7. The contact enrichment server according to claim 1, wherein the first alert is a visual alert.

8. The contact enrichment server according to claim 7,

wherein the alert data is further configured to cause a second alert associated with the linked contact to be presented on the first mobile device, the second alert indicating that the new message from the linked contact has been received at the first social network server, and

wherein the second alert is an audible alert.

9. The contact enrichment server according to claim 7, wherein the visual alert comprises at least one of:

a change in font color associated with the linked contact, a change in font size associated with the linked contact, a change in font boldness associated the linked contact, a check glyph associated with the linked contact, or a dot glyph associated with the linked contact.

10. The contact enrichment server according to claim 1, wherein the data store further comprises registration data, the registration data indicating one or more social network servers associated with the first mobile device.

11. The contact enrichment server according to claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to execute the software and further cause the contact enrichment server to:

transmit the alert data to a second mobile device,

wherein the alert data is configured to cause a second alert associated with the linked contact to be presented on the second mobile device, the second alert indicating that the new message from the linked contact has been received at the first social network server.

12. The contact enrichment server according to claim 1, wherein the new message on the first social network server is intended for a user of the first mobile device.

13. The contact enrichment server according to claim 1, wherein the new message comprises one of an e-mail message, an instant message, an image file, a video file, or an audio file.

14. A non-transitory, computer-readable medium comprising computer-executable instructions, the computer-executable instructions which, when executed by a processor, cause a computing device to perform a method, the method comprising:

detecting a new message on a first social network server;

identifying, based on the new message, a first profile on the first social network server associated with a sender of the new message;

identifying, based on the first profile, a first link in a data store, the first link identifying a correspondence between the first profile and a linked contact on a first mobile device associated with the sender of the new message;

transmitting alert data to the first mobile device, wherein the alert data is configured to cause a first alert associated with the linked contact to be presented on the first mobile device, the first alert indicating that the new message from the linked contact has been received at the first social network server;

identifying, based on the new message, a second profile on a second social network server associated with the sender of the new message;

comparing first timestamp data associated with the first profile with second timestamp data associated with the second profile; and

appending profile information to the linked contact from one of the first or the second profile having a most recent timestamp.

15. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium comprising computer-executable instructions of claim 14, the computer-executable instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the computing device to perform a method further comprising:

appending profile information from the first profile to the linked contact.

16. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium comprising computer-executable instructions of claim 15, wherein the profile information from the first profile includes at least one of a photo, a video, a phone number, an email address, a postal address, a message or a calendar event.

17. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium comprising computer-executable instructions of claim 14, the computer-executable instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the computing device to perform a method further comprising:

appending profile information from the second profile to the linked contact.

18. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium comprising computer-executable instructions of claim 17, wherein the profile information from the second profile includes at least one of a photo, a video, a phone number, an email address, a postal address, a message or a calendar event.

19. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium comprising computer-executable instructions of claim 14, wherein the profile information includes at least one of a photo, a video, a phone number, an email address, a postal address, a message or a calendar event.

20. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium comprising computer-executable instructions of claim 14, wherein the first alert is a visual alert.

21. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium comprising computer-executable instructions of claim 20,

wherein the alert data is further configured to cause a second alert associated with the linked contact to be presented on the first mobile device, the second alert indicating that the new message from the linked contact has been received at the first social network server, and

wherein the second alert is an audible alert.

22. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium comprising computer-executable instructions of claim 20, wherein the visual alert comprises at least one of:

a change in font color associated with the linked contact, a change in font size associated with the linked contact, a change in font boldness associated the linked contact, a check glyph associated with the linked contact, or a dot glyph associated with the linked contact.

23. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium comprising computer-executable instructions of claim 14, wherein the data store further comprises registration data, the registration data indicating one or more social network servers associated with the first mobile device.

24. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium comprising computer-executable instructions of claim 14, the computer-executable instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the computing device to perform a method further comprising:

transmit the alert data to a second mobile device,

wherein the alert data is configured to cause a second alert associated with the linked contact to be presented on the second mobile device, the second alert indicating that the new message from the linked contact has been received at the first social network server.

25. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium comprising computer-executable instructions of claim 14, wherein the new message on the first social network server is intended for a user of the first mobile device.

26. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium comprising computer-executable instructions of claim 14, wherein the new message comprises one of an e-mail message, an instant message, an image file, a video file, or an audio file.

27. A method of enriching contacts using a contact enrichment server comprising a data store, the method comprising:

detecting a new message on a first social network server;

identifying, based on the new message, a first profile on the first social network server associated with a sender of the new message;

identifying, based on the first profile, a first link in the data store, the first link identifying a correspondence between the first profile and a linked contact on a first mobile device associated with the sender of the new message;

transmitting alert data to the first mobile device, wherein the alert data is configured to cause a first alert associated with the linked contact to be presented on the first mobile device, the first alert indicating that the new message from the linked contact has been received at the first social network server;

identifying, based on the new message, a second profile on a second social network server associated with the sender of the new message;

comparing first timestamp data associated with the first profile with second timestamp data associated with the second profile; and

appending profile information to the linked contact from one of the first or the second profile having a most recent timestamp.