System and method for creating user-specific directory

• US 9,582,597 B2
• Filed: 07/25/2007
• Issued: 02/28/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 07/25/2007
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: AirBNB Incorporated
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Weir, Robert Cameron, Willner, Barry E., O'Sullivan, Patrick Joseph, Stern, Edith Helen
• Primary Examiner(s): BOCCIO, VINCENT F
• Application Number:
  US11/782,892
• Publication Number:
  US 20090030878A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,506 Days
• Field of Search: 707/736, 707/758, 707/748
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/335 Filtering based on additional data, e.g. user or group profiles filtering in web context G06F16/9535, G06F16/9536
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/958 Organisation or management of web site content, e.g. publishing, maintaining pages or automatic linking

Abstract

A system and method for generating user-centric directories including analyzing a plurality of relationships of a user. A contact directory for the user is defined based upon the plurality of relationships of the user.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

analyzing a plurality of relationships of a user with one or more other users listed in a corporate directory that is available to the user when the user is online, wherein analyzing the plurality of relationships of the user includes analyzing the plurality of relationships of the user with the one or more other users within a social network associated with the user, wherein the one or more other users included within the social network associated with the user are determined based upon, at least in part, a degree of separation between the user and the one or more other users within an organizational hierarchy defined by the corporate directory;

creating a contact entry of a user-specific contact directory based upon, at least in part, information resulting from an interaction with one of the plurality of relationships of the user and the plurality of relationships of the user with the one or more other users within the social network likely to interact with the user;

populating one or more fields of the contact entry based upon, at least in part, the information resulting from the interaction with the one of the plurality of relationships of the user and the plurality of relationships of the user with the one or more other users within the social network likely to interact with the user, wherein the contact entry and the user-specific contact directory are available to the user when the user is offline; and

comparing the user-specific contact directory to the corporate directory on a predetermined schedule to detect changes between the user-specific contact directory and the corporate directory.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of relationships of the user includes one or more of:

email communications, instant messaging chats, voice communications, scheduled calendar events, and travel itineraries.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein defining the user-specific contact directory for the user includes populating one or more fields of the contact entry based upon, at least in part, one or more user defined preferences.

4. The method of claim 1, further including populating one or more fields of the contact entry of the user-specific contact directory for the user based upon, at least in part, information from a general directory.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein populating one or more fields of the contact entry of the user-specific contact directory includes populating one or more fields of the contact entry based upon, at least in part, the organizational hierarchy defined by the corporate directory.

6. The method of claim 1, further including modifying the contact entry for the user based upon, at least in part, a change in a general directory.

7. The method of claim 6, further including notifying the user of the change in the general directory via at least one of a popup notification, an email notification, and an instant messaging notification.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein notifying the user includes prompting the user to accept or reject a change in the user-specific contact directory to correspond to the change in the general directory.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the plurality of relationships is based upon, at least in part, at least one of sending an email to another user and receiving an email from another user.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of relationships of the user includes two or more of:

email communications, instant messaging chats, voice communications, scheduled calendar events, and travel itineraries.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of relationships of the user includes:

email communications, instant messaging chats, voice communications, and scheduled calendar events.

12. The method of claim 1, further including updating the user-specific contact directory based upon, at least in part, a change in the organizational hierarchy, including creating a new contact entry and populating one or more fields of the new contact entry for a new member within at least one degree of separation above the user in the organizational hierarchy.

13. A computer program product residing on a non-transitory computer readable medium having a plurality of instructions stored thereon which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:

analyzing a plurality of relationships of a user with one or more other users listed in a corporate directory that is available to the user when the user is online, wherein analyzing the plurality of relationships of the user includes analyzing the plurality of relationships of the user with the one or more other users within a social network associated with the user, wherein the one or more other users included within the social network associated with the user are determined based upon, at least in part, a degree of separation between the user and the one or more other users within an organizational hierarchy defined by the corporate directory;

creating a contact entry of a user-specific contact directory based upon, at least in part, information resulting from an interaction with one of the plurality of relationships of the user and the plurality of relationships of the user with the one or more other users within the social network likely to interact with the user;

populating one or more fields of the contact entry based upon, at least in part, the information resulting from the interaction with the one of the plurality of relationships of the user, wherein the contact entry and the user-specific contact directory are available to the user when the user is offline and the plurality of relationships of the user with the one or more other users within the social network likely to interact with the user; and

comparing the user-specific contact directory to the corporate directory on a predetermined schedule to detect changes between the user-specific contact directory and the corporate directory.

14. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein the plurality of relationships of the user include one or more of:

email communications, instant messaging chats, voice communications, scheduled calendar events, and travel itineraries.

15. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein the instructions for defining the user-specific contact directory for the user include instructions for populating one or more fields of the contact entry based upon, at least in part, one or more user defined preferences.

16. The computer program product of claim 13, further including instructions for populating one or more fields of the contact entry of the user-specific contact directory for the user based upon, at least in part, information from a general directory.

17. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein the instructions for populating one or more fields of the contact entry of the user-specific contact directory include instructions for populating one or more fields of the contact entry based upon, at least in part, the organizational hierarchy defined by the corporate directory.

18. The computer program product of claim 13, further including instructions for modifying the contact entry for the user based upon, at least in part, a change in a general directory.

19. The computer program product of claim 18, further including instructions for notifying the user of the change in the general directory via at least one of a popup notification, an email notification, and an instant messaging notification.

20. The computer program product of claim 19 wherein notifying the user includes prompting the user to accept or reject a change in the user-specific contact directory to correspond to the change in the general directory.

21. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein at least one of the plurality of relationships is based upon, at least in part, at least one of sending an email to another user and receiving an email from another user.

22. The computer program product of claim 13, further including updating the user-specific contact directory based upon, at least in part, a change in the organizational hierarchy, including creating a new contact entry and populating one or more fields of the new contact entry for a new member within at least one degree of separation above the user in the organizational hierarchy.