Electronic device and method for extracting incoming/outgoing information and managing contacts

• US 9,191,791 B2
• Filed: 12/20/2013
• Issued: 11/17/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 12/24/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Jung, Ji-Yeon
• Primary Examiner(s): Brandt, Christopher M
• Application Number:
  US14/136,800
• Publication Number:
  US 20140179290A1
• Time in Patent Office: 697 Days
• Field of Search: 455/415
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0488 using a touch-screen or digitiser, e.g. input of commands through traced gestures
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/4594 Address books, i.e. directories containing contact information about correspondents telephone directories in user terminals H04M1/27453
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/27453 Directories allowing storage of additional subscriber data, e.g. metadata
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2201/60 Medium conversion
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42059 Making use of the calling party identifier
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42068 where the identifier is used to access a profile
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/12 Messaging; Mailboxes; Announcements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/18 Information format or content conversion, e.g. adaptation by the network of the transmitted or received information for the purpose of wireless delivery to users or terminals

Abstract

A method and electronic device for extracting incoming/outgoing information and managing contacts are provided. The method includes determining whether a communicating electronic device which has been or is in communication with the electronic device is included as a contact in a first contact list; extracting incoming/outgoing information based on at least one of metadata and contents of the communication with the communicating electronic device when the communicating electronic device is not included as a contact in the first contact list; and displaying the extracted incoming/outgoing information on a touchscreen of the electronic device.

Claims

1. A method in an electronic device, comprising:

determining whether a communicating electronic device which has been or is in communication with the electronic device is included as a contact in a first contact list;

extracting incoming/outgoing information based on at least one of metadata and contents of a communication with the communicating electronic device when the communicating electronic device is not included as a contact in the first contact list; and

displaying the extracted incoming/outgoing information on a screen of the electronic device.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining which one of the first contact list and a second contact list the extracted incoming/outgoing information is to be stored in.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the first contact list stores at least one contact that is automatically synchronized with at least one accessible application.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the second contact list stores at least one contact that is not automatically synchronized with at least one accessible application.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

performing communication with the communicating electronic device.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein performing communication with the communicating electronic device comprises at least one of:

transmitting a message or a call to the communicating electronic device; and

receiving a message or a call from the communicating electronic device.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein extracting incoming/outgoing information based on at least one of metadata and contents of the communication comprises:

converting audio contents of a call which has been one of transmitted to or received from the communicating electronic device to a text;

searching contents of the text; and

extracting information associated with the communicating electronic device based on the searched contents of the text.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein searching the contents of the text comprises at least one of:

searching for a symbol in the contents of the text;

or

searching for at least one a term representing a rank, a term representing a name, and a term representing a company name in the contents of the text.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein extracting information associated with the communicating electronic device based on the searched contents of the text comprises:

extracting at least one term among one or more of a found term representing a rank, a found term representing a name, and a found term representing a company name.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein extracting information associated with the communicating electronic device based on the searched contents of the text comprises:

executing a web browser;

searching for at least one of a company name found in the contents of the text and a telephone number of the communicating electronic device using the web browser; and

extracting a web page address corresponding to at least one of the company name and a main telephone number of the communicating electronic device.

11. The method of claim 7, wherein extracting information associated with the communicating electronic device based on the searched contents of the text comprises:

searching for at least one of a company name found in the contents of the text and a telephone number of the communicating electronic device in a database; and

extracting a web page address corresponding to at least one of the company name and a main telephone number of the communicating electronic device in the database.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein extracting incoming/outgoing information based on at least one of metadata and contents of the communication comprises:

searching contents of a message which has been one of transmitted to or received from the communicating electronic device; and

extracting information associated with the communicating electronic device based on the searched contents of the message.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein searching the contents of the message comprises at least one of:

searching for a symbol in the contents of the message;

or

searching for at least one of a term representing a rank, a term representing a name, and a term representing a company name in the contents of the message.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein extracting information associated with the communicating electronic device based on the searched contents of the message comprises:

extracting at least one among a found term representing a rank, a found term representing a name, and a found term representing a company name.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein extracting information associated with the communicating electronic device based on the searched contents of the message comprises:

executing a web browser;

searching for at least one of a company name found in the contents of the message and a telephone number of the communicating electronic device using the web browser; and

extracting a web page address corresponding to at least one of the company name and a main telephone number of the communicating electronic device.

16. The method of claim 12, wherein extracting information associated with the communicating electronic device based on the searched contents of the message comprises:

searching for at least one of a company name found from the contents of the message and a telephone number of the communicating electronic device in a database; and

extracting a web page address corresponding to at least one of the company name and a main telephone number of the communicating electronic device in the database.

17. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving input from a user concerning the displayed extracted incoming/outgoing information.

18. The method of claim 2, wherein determining which one of the first contact list and the second contact list the extracted incoming/outgoing information is to be stored in comprises:

determining whether an input for editing the extracted incoming/outgoing information is received;

when the input for editing the incoming/outgoing information is received and the incoming/outgoing information has been edited, determining whether an input for storing edited incoming/outgoing information in the first contact list is received; and

when an input for storing the edited incoming/outgoing information in the first contact list is received, storing the edited incoming/outgoing information in the first contact list.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising, when the input for editing the extracted incoming/outgoing information is not received:

when performing communication with an electronic device having information identical to the extracted and unedited incoming/outgoing information, displaying the extracted and unedited incoming/outgoing information as contact information.

20. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

when the input for storing the edited incoming/outgoing information in the first contact list is not received, storing the edited and extracted incoming/outgoing information in the second contact list; and

when performing communication with an electronic device having information identical to the edited and extracted incoming/outgoing information, displaying the edited and extracted incoming/outgoing information from the second contact list as contact information.

21. An electronic device comprising:

a processor unit configured to determine whether a communicating electronic device which has been or is in communication with the electronic device is included as a contact in a first contact list and, when the communicating electronic device is not included as a contact in the first contact list, extracting incoming/outgoing information based on at least one of metadata and contents of a communication with the communicating electronic device; and

a touchscreen configured to display the extracted incoming/outgoing information.

22. The electronic device of claim 21, wherein the processor unit determines which one of the first contact list and a second contact list the extracted incoming/outgoing information is to be stored in.

23. The electronic device of claim 21, wherein the first contact list stores at least one contact that is automatically synchronized with at least one accessible application.

24. The electronic device of claim 22, wherein the second contact list stores at least one contact that is not automatically synchronized with at least one accessible application.

25. The electronic device of claim 21, further comprising:

a communication module configured to perform communication with the communicating electronic device.

26. The electronic device of claim 25, wherein the communication module at least one of transmits a message or a call to the communicating electronic device and receives a message or a call from the communicating electronic device.

27. The electronic device of claim 21, wherein the processor unit is further configured to convert audio contents of a call which has been one of transmitted to or received from the communicating electronic device to a text, to search contents of the text, and to extract information associated with the communicating electronic device based on the searched contents of the text.

28. The electronic device of claim 27, wherein the processor unit is further configured to search for a symbol in the contents of the text or to search for at least one of a term representing a rank, a term representing a name, and a term representing a company name in the contents of the text.

29. The electronic device of claim 28, wherein the processor unit is further configured to extract at least one term among one or more of a found term representing a rank, a found term representing a name, and a found term representing a company name.

30. The electronic device of claim 27, wherein the processor unit is further configured to execute a web browser, to search for at least one of a company name found in the contents of the text and a telephone number of the communicating electronic device using the web browser, and to extract a web page address corresponding to at least one of the company name and a main telephone number of the communicating electronic device.

31. The electronic device of claim 27, wherein the processor unit is further configured to search for at least one of a company name found in the contents of the text and a telephone number of the communicating electronic device in a database, and to extract a web page address corresponding to at least one of the company name and a main telephone number of the communicating electronic device.

32. The electronic device of claim 21, wherein the processor unit searches contents of a message which has been one of transmitted to and received from the communicating electronic device to a text and extracts information associated with the communicating electronic device based on the searched contents of the message.

33. The electronic device of claim 32, wherein the processor unit searches for a symbol in the contents of the message or searches for at least one of a term representing a rank, a term representing a name, and a term representing a company name in the contents of the message.

34. The electronic device of claim 33, wherein the processor unit extracts at least one term among one or more of a found term representing a rank, a found term representing a name, and a found term representing a company name.

35. The electronic device of claim 32, wherein the processor unit is further configured to execute a web browser, to search for at least one of a company name found in the contents of the message and a telephone number of the communicating electronic device using the web browser, and to extract a web page address corresponding to at least one of the company name and a main telephone number of the communicating electronic device.

36. The electronic device of claim 32, wherein the processor unit is further configured to search for at least one of a company name found in the contents of the message and a telephone number of the communication electronic device in a database, and to extract a web page address corresponding to at least one of the company name and a main telephone number of the communicating electronic device.

37. The electronic device of claim 21, further comprising:

an input unit configured to receive input from a user concerning the extracted incoming/outgoing information displayed on the touchscreen.

38. The electronic device of claim 22, wherein the processor unit is further configured to determine whether an input for editing the extracted incoming/outgoing information is received, to determine, when the input for editing the incoming/outgoing information is received, whether an input for storing edited incoming/outgoing information in the first contact list is received, and to store, when an input for storing the edited incoming/outgoing information in the first contact list is received, the edited incoming/outgoing information in the first contact list.

39. The electronic device of claim 38, wherein, when the input for editing the extracted incoming/outgoing information is not received, the processor unit is further configured, when performing communication with an electronic device having information identical to the extracted incoming/outgoing information, to display the extracted and unedited incoming/outgoing information as contact information.

40. The electronic device of claim 38,

wherein, when the input for storing the edited incoming/outgoing information in the first contact list is not received, the processor unit stores the edited and extracted incoming/outgoing information in the second contact list and, when performing communication with an electronic device having information identical to the edited and extracted incoming/outgoing information stored in the second contact list, displaying the edited and extracted incoming/outgoing information from the second contact list as contact information.