Method of Distributing Contact and Calendar Records

• US 20080177745A1
• Filed: 01/19/2007
• Published: 07/24/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 01/19/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Chartoleaux KG LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: Tepa Datasolutions Co LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Inventors: Eldering, Charles A., Fuller, Benjamin E.
• Granted Patent: US 8,417,675 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/10
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/178 Techniques for file synchronisation in file systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/27 Replication, distribution or synchronisation of data between databases or within a distributed database system; Distributed database system architectures therefor

Abstract

A method of distributing contact and calendar records in a multi-user environment includes maintaining a plurality of records with a plurality of fields and directives corresponding to a plurality of users. At least one user has at least one authorization. For each record, a designation is made, based on the directives, to determine which of a plurality of component devices the record is distributed to. The records and fields are distributed to the component devices.

Claims

1. A method of distributing contact or calendar information in a multi-user environment, the method comprising:

(a) maintaining records corresponding to a plurality of users, wherein at least one of the users has at least one contact or calendar authorization;

(b) maintaining a plurality of contact or calendar records, each of the records containing a plurality of fields and a plurality of directives, wherein the directives include information pertaining to the user authorizations;

(c) for each contact or calendar record, designating at least one component corresponding to the at least one user to which the record is to be distributed, wherein the designation is based on the directives corresponding to the respective record; and

(d) automatically distributing one or more of the fields of the record to the at least one component corresponding to that record based on the designation of step (c).

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the directives contain rules pertaining to group information used in the distribution process.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the group information includes different categories of users.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the group information includes geographical information.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein the group information includes time of day information.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising;

(e) buffering the contact or calendar data for pre-distribution processing prior to initiating distribution.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the pre-distribution processing includes virus scanning.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the pre-distribution processing includes message integrity checking.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the user authorizations of step (b) include permissions related to reading, creating, editing and deleting the records or the fields.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the users have different permissions for one or more of the same contact records or contact fields.

11. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

(e) providing a user with the option to accept or reject local storage of the contact or calendar record at the at least one component.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

(e) maintaining records of distributed contact or calendar information including information pertaining to the user'"'"'s acceptance or rejection of the records; and

(f) deleting the records or fields from the at least one component if the information is contained in the record of distributed information.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the contact record contains contact data related to an individual.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein one of the fields represents a single unit of data corresponding to an individual.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the one or more fields of the records are distributed via the Internet.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the one or more fields of the records are distributed via a wireless network.

17. A contact or calendar information distribution system comprising:

a storage device containing a plurality of contact or calendar records, each of the contact or calendar records containing a plurality of fields and a plurality of directives, wherein the directives include information regarding to which user'"'"'s devices the record is to be distributed;

a communication system for transmitting at least one of the plurality of records based on the directives; and

at least one device for receiving the at least one of the plurality of records, wherein the device is associated with a user.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the directives include geographic information.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein the directives include permissions related to reading, creating, editing and deleting the records or the fields.