Systems, methods and computer program products for aggregating contact information

• US 20070064920A1
• Filed: 12/29/2005
• Published: 03/22/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 09/15/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Bellsouth Intellectual Property Corporation (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Bellsouth Intellectual Property Corporation (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Ruckart, John
• Granted Patent: US 9,491,275 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 379/355.70
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/109 Time management, e.g. calendars, reminders, meetings or time accounting
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/04 Real-time or near real-time messaging, e.g. instant messaging [IM]
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/2757 by data transmission, e.g. downloading
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/553 Data upload
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/4931 Directory assistance systems

Abstract

A service provider for a communications system may detect new contact information for a contact in the contact database of a first one of the subscribers. The service provider obtains a confirmation of the new contact information by a party other than the first subscriber to confirm accuracy of the new contact information. Responsive to detection of the confirmation event, the service provider stores the confirmed contact information in an aggregate contact database including contact data from multiple ones of the plurality of subscribers. The new contact information may include a communications identifier, such as a telephone number, physical address or network address. The new contact information may further include personal information for the contact, such as a photograph, a profile, a weblog, a buddy list, a bookmark and/or a tag, or commercial information associated with the contact, such as a user rating, an advertisement and/or a coupon.

Claims

1. A method of operating a communications system having a plurality of subscribers, each of the subscribers managing a respective contact database, the method comprising the following steps performed by a service provider of the communications system:

detecting new contact information for a contact in the contact database of a first one of the subscribers;

obtaining a confirmation of the new contact information by a party other than the first subscriber to confirm accuracy of the new contact information; and

responsive to obtaining the confirmation, storing the confirmed contact information in an aggregate contact database comprising contact data from multiple ones of the plurality of subscribers.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining a confirmation comprises:

transmitting a confirmation query to the contact; and

detecting a confirmation in response to the query.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining a confirmation comprises:

grouping the detected new contact information with new contact information previously received from at least one other subscriber that substantially matches the detected new contact information; and

detecting the confirmation responsive to a number of occurrences of substantially matching new contact information in the grouped contact information exceeding a predetermined threshold.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining a confirmation comprises detecting at least one successful communication by at least one of the plurality of subscribers using the detected new contact information.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the new contact information comprises a communications identifier.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the communications identifier comprises an address, a telephone number and/or an e-mail address.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the new contact information further comprises personal information for the contact.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the personal information comprises a photograph, a profile, a weblog, a buddy list, a bookmark and/or a tag.

9. The method of claim 5, wherein the new contact information further comprises commercial information associated with the contact.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the commercial information comprises a user rating, an advertisement and/or a coupon.

11. The method of claim 9, further comprising providing access to the commercial information in the aggregate database to a second one of the subscribers.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein providing access to the commercial information in the aggregate database to a second one of the subscribers comprises publishing the commercial information in a database available to at least a subset of the plurality of subscribers.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing access to the new contact information in the aggregate database to a second one of the subscribers.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein detecting new contact information for a contact in the contact database of a first one of the subscribers comprises detecting a constraint on distribution of the new contact information, and wherein storing the confirmed contact information in an aggregate contact database comprising contact data from multiple ones of the plurality of subscribers is followed by limiting access of the plurality of subscribers to the new contact information in the aggregate contact database according to the detected constraint.

15. A computer program product comprising computer program code embodied in a computer readable medium, the computer program code comprising program code configured to carry out the method of claim 1.

16. A system configured to carry out the method of claim 1.

17. A method of operating a communications system having a plurality of subscribers, each of the subscribers managing a respective contact database, the method comprising the following steps performed by a service provider of the communications system, the method comprising:

receiving contact information for contacts including commercial information associated therewith from respective contact databases of respective ones of the subscribers; and

storing the commercial information in an aggregate contact database accessible to at least some of the plurality of subscribers.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the commercial information comprises a user rating, an advertisement and/or a coupon.

19. A computer program product comprising computer program code embodied in a computer readable medium, the computer program code comprising program code configured to carry out the method of claim 17.

20. A system configured to carry out the method of claim 17.