Apparatus and method for providing contacts through interworking between messaging service and social network service

• US 9,363,106 B2
• Filed: 03/02/2011
• Issued: 06/07/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 03/02/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. (Samsung Group)
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. (Samsung Group)
• Inventors: Lee, Kyung-Tak, Oh, Gyu-Bong, Kim, Wuk, Lee, Seung-Yong
• Primary Examiner(s): Taylor, Nicholas
• Assistant Examiner(s): Williams, Clayton R
• Application Number:
  US13/582,638
• Publication Number:
  US 20120324009A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,924 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/48 Message addressing, e.g. address format or anonymous messages, aliases
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/52 for supporting social networking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/12 Messaging; Mailboxes; Announcements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/21 for social networking applications
• 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 method and an apparatus for providing a contact through interworking with a Social Network Service (SNS) are provided. The method includes receiving, by a client using the other service through SNS interworking, a contact provided in the SNS, determining whether the other party'"'"'s client having subscribed to the same service as that of the client is present in the received contact, and informing a user of the determination results. Based on the determination results, the client may determine subscription/non-subscription of the other party'"'"'s client to the service, and may send an invite request for the service if the other party'"'"'s client has not subscribed to the same service as that of the client. By doing so, the number of targets, subscription/non-subscription of which to a specific service can be determined, may be extended.

Claims

1. A method for receiving a contact in a client terminal through interworking between a messaging service and a Social Network Service (SNS), the method comprising:

sending, by the client terminal, to a server a request for a contact list provided in the SNS;

receiving from the server, by the client terminal, the contact list from among a plurality of contact lists received from an SNS providing server; and

performing, by the client terminal, address book synchronization with the server based on the received contact list,

wherein the contact list is filtered by the server so as to include only contacts valid for the client terminal, and

wherein, if an address of a same messaging service as that of the client terminal is present in the received contact list, the client terminal adds at least one contact having the address of the same messaging service as that of the client terminal in a subscription list.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the contact list comprises at least one of a name, an e-mail address, and a phone number.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining, by the client terminal, whether an address of the same messaging service as that of the client terminal is present in the received contact list.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

sending a messaging service registration server a request for a messaging service list in which another party is registered, which corresponds to the at least one contact added in the subscription list; and

receiving the messaging service list from the messaging service registration server.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

determining whether the same messaging service as that of the client terminal is present in the messaging service list; and

if the same messaging service as that of the client terminal is present in the messaging service list, notifying that a party corresponding to the at least one contact uses the same messaging service as that of the client terminal.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the contact list is filtered by comparing the address book, received from a Converged Address Book (CAB) XML Document Management Server (XDMS), with a contact list received from the SNS.

7. A client terminal for receiving a contact through interworking between a messaging service and a Social Network Service (SNS), the client terminal comprising:

a processor executing instructions to;

send a server a request for a contact list provided in the SNS,

receive from the server the contact list from among a plurality of contact lists received from an SNS providing server,

perform address book synchronization for an address book with the server based on the received contact list,

store the address book synchronized with the server, and

control a user interface configured to inform a user whether a specific contact has subscribed to a the same messaging service as that of the user; and

an Input/Output (I/O) interface configured to exchange a request and a response with the server,

wherein the contact list is filtered by the server so as to include only contacts valid for the client terminal, and

wherein, if an address of a same messaging service as that of the client terminal is present in the received contact list, the client terminal adds at least one contact having the address of the same messaging service as that of the client terminal in a subscription list.

8. The client terminal of claim 7, wherein the contact list comprises at least one of a name, an e-mail address, and a phone number.

9. The client terminal of claim 7, further comprising:

a memory configured to temporarily store the received contact list,

wherein the client terminal determines whether an address of the same messaging service as that of the client terminal is present in the received contact list.

10. The client terminal of claim 7, wherein the client terminal sends a messaging service registration server a request for a messaging service list in which another party is registered, which corresponds to the at least one contact added in the subscription list, and receives the messaging service list from the messaging service registration server.

11. The client terminal of claim 10, wherein the client terminal determines whether the same messaging service as that of the client terminal is present in the messaging service list, and if the same messaging service as that of the client terminal is present in the messaging service list, notifies on the user interface that the another party corresponding to the at least one contact uses the same messaging service as that of the client terminal.

12. The client terminal of claim 7, wherein the contact list is filtered by comparing the address book received from a Converged Address Book (CAB) XML Document Management Server (XDMS) with a contact list received from the SNS.

13. The client terminal of claim 7, wherein the request for the contact list is converted in a format for the SNS and transmitted to the SNS through the server.

14. A method for providing a contact to a client terminal by a server through interworking between a messaging service and a Social Network Service (SNS), the method comprising:

receiving, by the server, a contact suggestion request for a new contact list from the client terminal, and storing the received contact suggestion request;

sending, by the server, a contact list request to an external non-converaed address book server;

receiving, by the server, a contact list in response to the contact list request from the external non-converged address book server;

filtering, by the server, the contact list so as to include only contacts valid for the client terminal by comparing the received contact list and an existing contact list;

sending, by the server, the filtered contact list to the client terminal; and

performing, by the server, address book synchronization with the client terminal,

wherein, if an address of a same messaging service as that of the client terminal is present in the filtered contact list sent to the client terminal, at least one contact having the address of the same messaging service as that of the client terminal is added by the client terminal in a subscription list.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the receiving a contact suggestion request comprises receiving the contact suggestion request from a Converged Address Book (CAB) XML Document Management Server (XDMS) in which the client terminal has stored information about the contact suggestion request.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the information about the contact suggestion request is stored using a HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) PUT.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein the sending a contact list request comprises converting the contact list request into a format suitable for the external non-converged address book server before sending the contact list request.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the external non-converged address book server is a server providing the SNS.

19. The method of claim 14, wherein the received contact list is converted into a Converged Address Book (CAB) format.

20. The method of claim 14, wherein the contact list is searched from an external non-converged address book system or a Converged Address Book (CAB) XML Document Management Server (XDMS).

21. The method of claim 14, wherein the identifying a contact corresponding to information about the contact suggestion request further comprises storing a contact filtered by comparing the existing address contact with the received contact list.

22. The method of claim 14, wherein the contact suggestion request is received using a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) NOTIFY.

23. A server for providing a contact to a client terminal through interworking between a messaging service and a Social Network Service (SNS) comprising;

an Input/Output (I/O) interface configured to;

exchange a request and a response with the client terminal,

receive a contact suggestion request for a new contact list from the client terminal,

send a contact list request to an external non-converged address book server, and

receive a contact list in response to the contact list request from the external non-converged address book server;

a memory configured to store the received contact suggestion request; and

a processor configured to;

filter the contact list so as to include only contacts valid for the client terminal by comparing the received contact list and an existing contact list,

send the filtered contact list to the client terminal, and

perform address book synchronization with the client terminal,

wherein, if an address of a same messaging service as that of the client terminal is present in the filtered contact list sent to the client terminal, at least one contact having the address of the same messaging service as that of the client terminal is added by the client terminal in a subscription list.

24. The server of claim 23, wherein the contact suggestion request is received from a Converged Address Book (CAB) XML Document Management Server (XDMS) in which the client terminal has stored information about the contact suggestion request.

25. The server of claim 24, wherein the information about the contact suggestion request is stored using a HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) PUT.

26. The server of claim 23. wherein the processor converts the contact list request into a format suitable for the external non- converged address book server before sending the contact list request.

27. The server of claim 26, wherein the external non-converged address book server is a server providing the SNS.

28. The server of claim 23, wherein the received contact list is converted into a Converged Address Book (CAB) format.

29. The server of claim 23, wherein the processor searches a contact corresponding to information about the contact suggestion request from an external non-converged address book system or a Converged Address Book (CAB) XML Document Management Server (XDMS).

30. The server of claim 23, wherein the memory stores a contact filtered by comparing the existing address contact with the received contact list.

31. The server of claim 23, wherein the contact suggestion request is received using a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) NOTIFY.