Methods and apparatus for contact information representation

• US 9,094,503 B2
• Filed: 02/11/2010
• Issued: 07/28/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 02/11/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Hans, Martin, Schmidt, Andreas
• Primary Examiner(s): Fleurantin, Jean B
• Assistant Examiner(s): ASPINWALL, EVAN S
• Application Number:
  US12/704,449
• Publication Number:
  US 20110196868A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,993 Days
• Field of Search: 707/723, 707/724, 707/725, 707/732, 707/752, 707/919, 707/951, 707/737, 707/802, 455/418
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/27453 Directories allowing storage of additional subscriber data, e.g. metadata
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/2746 Sorting, e.g. according to history or frequency of use
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/27475 using interactive graphical means or pictorial representations
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72457 according to geographic location
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/60 logging of communication history, e.g. outgoing or incoming calls, missed calls, messages or URLs logging of telephone numbers H04M1/56, H04M1/57

Abstract

Methods and apparatus for the convenient arrangement of a user'"'"'s address book according to intelligent algorithms. These intelligent algorithms, in one embodiment, take advantage of one or more of: (i) stored contact information associated with one or more users, (ii) stored geographic location information associated with the users and one or more contact entries in the user'"'"'s address book, and/or (iii) stored voice and data communication information associated with the user. This algorithm arranges the entries in the users address book, using the stored information as an input, in an intelligent manner. In other embodiments, additional information is used as an input to the contact entry arranging algorithms such as, for example, entries in a user'"'"'s digital calendar. Business methods utilizing the aforementioned methods and apparatus are also disclosed.

Claims

1. A method for automatically prioritizing a plurality of contacts managed by a portable client device, the method comprising:

at the portable client device;

identifying a calendar event that is associated with a geographic location, a temporal component, and a subset of the plurality of contacts; and

in response to identifying that (i) the portable client device is proximate to the geographic location, and (ii) that the temporal component is satisfied;

creating a prioritized listing of the subset of the plurality of contacts based on the temporal component and a proximity to the geographic location prior to the calendar event,

determining, for each contact included in the prioritized listing of the subset of the plurality of contacts, whether the contact is proximate to the portable client device, wherein the portable client device detects a device of the contact using a short-range wireless transmission, and

based on the determining;

updating the prioritized listing of the subset of the plurality of contacts to indicate, for each contact in the prioritized listing of the subset of the plurality of contacts, whether the device of the contact is proximate to the portable client device during the calendar event.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of contacts are not stored locally on the portable client device.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

arranging the prioritized listing of the subset of the plurality of contacts according to communication information

associated with the subset of the plurality of contacts.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein determining, for each contact included in the prioritized listing of the subset of the plurality of contacts, further comprises:

determining an elapsed time since a user of the portable client device is within a predetermined geographic proximity to the contact.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein creating the prioritized listing further comprises:

presenting a time sequential order of the subset of the plurality of contacts based on the elapsed times.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying whether the portable client device is proximate to the geographic location comprises comparing a satellite-based fix of the client device to the geographic location.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein determining whether a contact is proximate to the portable client device involves using a hashing algorithm to securely anonymize the contact to the portable client device.

8. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium configured to store instructions that, when executed by a processor included in a portable client device, cause the portable client device to carry out steps that include:

identifying a calendar event that is associated with a geographic location, a temporal component, and a subset of a plurality of contacts; and

in response to identifying that (i) the portable client device is proximate to the geographic location, and (ii) temporal component is satisfied;

creating a prioritized listing of the subset of the plurality of contacts based on the temporal component and a proximity to the geographic location prior to the calendar event,

determining, for each contact included in the prioritized listing of the subset the plurality of contacts, whether the contact is proximate to the portable client device, wherein the portable client device detects a device of the contact using a short-range wireless transmission, and based on the determining;

updating the prioritized listing of the subset of the plurality of contacts to indicate, for each contact in the prioritized listing of the subset of the plurality of contacts, whether the device of the contact is proximate to the portable client device during the calendar event.

9. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein the plurality of contacts are not stored locally on the portable client device.

10. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein the steps further include:

arranging the prioritized listing of the subset of the plurality of contacts according to communication information associated with the subset of the plurality of contacts.

11. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein the steps further include:

determining an elapsed time since a user of the portable client device is within a predetermined geographic proximity to the contact.

12. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the steps further include:

presenting a time sequential order of the subset of the plurality of contacts based on the elapsed times.

13. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein identifying whether the portable client device is proximate to the geographic location comprises comparing a satellite-based fix of the client device to the geographic location.

14. A method for automatically prioritizing a plurality of contacts managed by a portable client device, the method comprising:

at the portable client device;

identifying a calendar event that is associated with a geographic location, a temporal component, and a subset of the plurality of contacts; and

in response to identifying that (i) the portable client device is proximate to the geographic location, and (ii) that the temporal component is satisfied;

creating a prioritized listing of the subset of the plurality of contacts based on the temporal component and a proximity to the geographic location prior to the calendar event, wherein the prioritized listing is presented in a two-dimensional representation that includes a first axis that corresponds to a location-based function, and a second axis that corresponds to a time-based function,

determining, for each contact included in the prioritized listing of the subset of the plurality of contacts, whether the contact is proximate to the portable client device, wherein the portable client device detects a device of the contact using a short-range wireless transmission, and

based on the determining;

updating the prioritized listing of the subset of the plurality of contacts to indicate, for each contact in the prioritized listing of the subset of the plurality of contacts, whether the device of the contact is proximate to the portable client device during the calendar event.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

grouping the subset of the plurality of contacts within the two-dimensional representation according to the location-based function.

16. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

arranging the prioritized listing of the subset of the plurality of contacts according to communication information associated with the subset of the plurality of contacts.

17. A method for automatically prioritizing a plurality of contacts managed by a portable client device, the method comprising:

at the portable client device;

identifying a calendar event that is associated with a geographic location, a temporal component, and a subset of the plurality of contacts; and

in response to identifying that (i) the portable client device is proximate to the geographic location, and (ii) that the temporal component is satisfied;

creating a prioritized listing of the subset of the plurality of contacts based on the temporal component and a proximity to the geographic location prior to the calendar event,

determining, for each contact included in the prioritized listing of the subset of the plurality of contacts, whether the contact is proximate to the portable client device, wherein the portable client device detects a device of the contact using a short-range wireless transmission, and

based on the determining;

updating the prioritized listing of the subset of the plurality of contacts to indicate, for each contact in the prioritized listing of the subset of the plurality of contacts, whether the device of the contact is proximate to the portable client device during the calendar event, wherein the indication is provided via a two-dimensional representation.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the two-dimensional representation includes a first axis that corresponds to a location-based function and a second axis that corresponds to a time-based function.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein determining whether a contact is proximate to the portable client device involves using a hashing algorithm to securely anonymize the contact to the portable client device.

20. A portable client device configured to automatically prioritize a plurality of contacts, the portable client device comprising:

a processor;

a storage device in data communication with the processor; and

a memory configured to store instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the portable client device to carry out steps that include;

identifying a calendar event that is associated with a geographic location, a temporal component, and a subset of the plurality of contacts; and

in response to identifying that (i) the portable client device is proximate to the geographic location, and (ii) that the temporal component is satisfied;

creating a prioritized listing of the subset of the plurality of contacts based on the temporal component and a proximity to the geographic location prior to the calendar event,

determining, for each contact included in the prioritized listing of the subset of the plurality of contacts, whether the contact is proximate to the portable client device, wherein the portable client device detects a device of the contact using a short-range wireless transmission, and

based on the determining;

updating the prioritized listing of the subset of the plurality of contacts to indicate, for each contact in the prioritized listing of the subset of the plurality of contacts, whether the device of the contact is proximate to the portable client device during the calendar event.

21. The portable client device of claim 20, wherein the steps further include:

arranging the prioritized listing of the subset of the plurality of contacts according to communication information associated with the subset of the plurality of contacts.

22. The portable client device of claim 20, wherein the steps further include:

enabling at least one of a relative or an absolute geo-positioning of the portable client device to determine whether the subset of the plurality of contacts are proximate to the portable client device.