Communication system

• US 20080181199A1
• Filed: 12/06/2007
• Published: 07/31/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 12/08/2006
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Skype S.Ã R.L. (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Skype S.Ã R.L. (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Madanes, Rodrigo, Nilsson, Linus, Sopieva, Natasha Valerie, Corr, Nick
• Application Number:
  US11/999,730
• Publication Number:
  US 20080181199A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/352
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/252 between a Database Management System and a front-end application
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9537 Spatial or temporal dependent retrieval, e.g. spatiotemporal queries
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9577 Optimising the visualization of content, e.g. distillation of HTML documents
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/232 Orthographic correction, e.g. spell checking or vowelisation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/4931 Directory assistance systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/006 Networks other than PSTN/ISDN providing telephone service, e.g. Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) , including next generation networks with a packet-switched transport layer H04L65/00 takes precedence; aspects not specific to the type of network H04M3/00; special services in those networks H04M3/42

Abstract

A method of populating a store with information identifying user devices capable of communicating in a communications network, includes establishing a communication event from an initiator device to a recipient device via the communication network using information identifying the recipient device; receiving from a user of the initiator device a selection signal indicating that said information identifying the recipient device is to populate the store; and transmitting said information identifying the recipient device from the initiator device to the store via the communication network.

Claims

1. A method of populating a store with information identifying user devices capable of communicating in a communications network, the method comprising:

establishing a communication event from an initiator device to a recipient device via the communication network using information identifying the recipient device;

receiving from a user of the initiator device a selection signal indicating that said information identifying the recipient device is to populate the store; and

transmitting said information identifying the recipient device from the initiator device to the store via the communication network.

2. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the store stores the information identifying the recipient device together with associated information.

3. A method as claimed in claim 2 wherein the information identifying the recipient and the associated information are stored as an entry in the store.

4. A method as claimed in claim 3 wherein each entry in the store is editable by a plurality of users.

5. A method as claimed in claim 2 wherein the user of the initiator device inputs the associated information at the initiator device.

6. A method as claimed in claim 2 wherein the associated information is provided from a database located in the communications network.

7. A method as claimed in claim 6 wherein the database counts the number of communication events occurring across the communications network for a recipient device.

8. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the user of the initiator device inputs the information identifying the recipient device at the initiator device in order to establish a call.

9. A method as claimed in claim 2 wherein the associated information is transmitted to the store together with the information identifying the recipient device.

10. A method as claimed in claim 2 wherein the associated information includes rating information.

11. A method as claimed in claim 2 wherein the associated information includes location information.

12. A method as claimed in claim 2 wherein the associated information includes call statistics.

13. A method as claimed in claim 2 wherein the associated information includes payment information.

14. A method as claimed in claim 3 wherein the associated information includes an indication of whether one entry is to be listed above other entries.

15. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the information identifying the recipient comprises a telephone number.

16. A method as claimed in claim 1 further comprising controlling the initiator device to provide the user with means for generating the selection signal when the communication event to the recipient device is terminated.

17. A method as claimed in claim 1 further comprising controlling the initiator device to provide the user with means for generating the selection signal during the communication event.

18. A method as claimed in claim 1 further comprising

detecting a language setting stored on the initiator device;

determining if the language setting is a permissible language; and

providing the user with means for generating the selection signal if it is determined that the language setting is a permissible language.

19. A method as claimed in claim 2 wherein the associated information includes information relating to the number of times a call is made to a recipient device.

20. A method as claimed in claim 19 wherein the information relating to the number of times a call is made to a recipient device is determined by counting the number of call data records issued in the network relating to the recipient device.

21. A method of storing information relating to a plurality of user devices capable of communicating in a communications network on a store, the method comprising:

inputting to the store information necessary to establish communication with the plurality of user devices via the communications network;

generating call statistics relating to the number of communication events occurring with the plurality of user device across the communications network;

inputting to the store information relating to the call statistics for the plurality of user devices.

22. A method as claimed in claim 21 wherein the information stored in relation to each user device is stored as an entry in the store.

23. A method as claimed in claim 22 further comprising retrieving a plurality of entries from the store.

24. A method as claimed in claim 23 further comprising sorting the entries retrieved from the store in dependence on the number of communication events occurring with each user device.

25. A method as claimed in 21 wherein the communications network comprises a first network and a second network.

26. A method as claimed in claim 25 wherein the call statistics relate to the number of communication events occurring between the first network and the second network.

27. A method of storing the number of communication events initiated by initiating nodes in a first network to a receiving node in a second network comprising:

transmitting information from an initiating node in the first network to the receiving node in the second network via a gateway;

monitoring the information transmitted via the gateway to the receiving node;

determining the number of communication events received at the receiving node from the information transmitted via the gateway; and

storing the number of communication events received by the receiving node in a data store.

28. A method of communicating in a communication network using communication information stored on a data store by a plurality of users comprising:

inputting searching criteria to search the data store by a first user;

retrieving a set of information from the data store corresponding to the searching criteria;

determining if any information in the set was stored on the data store by a user associated with the first user;

displaying any information that was determined as being updated by a user associated with the first user, to the first user;

initiating a communication event by the first user to a second user using the information presented to the first user.

29. A communication system comprising:

a store arranged to store information identifying a plurality of devices capable of communicating in the communication system;

an initiator device arranged to initiate a communication event to a recipient device via the communication system using information identifying the recipient device, wherein the initiator device comprises receiving means arranged to receive from the user of the initiator device a selection signal indicating that the information identifying the recipient device is to populate the store; and

transmitting means arranged to transmit said information identifying the recipient device to the store via the communication system.

30. An initiator device arranged to initiate a communication event to a recipient device in a communication network comprising:

input means for inputting information identifying the recipient device to initiate the communication event;

receiving means arranged to receive from the user of the initiator device a selection signal indicating that the information identifying the recipient device is to populate the store; and

transmitting means arranged to transmit said information identifying the recipient device to the store via the communication network.

31. A computer program product comprising program code means which when executed on an initiator device implement the steps of:

establishing a communication event from the initiator device to a recipient device via the communication network using information identifying the recipient device;

receiving from a user of the initiator device a selection signal indicating that said information identifying the recipient device is to populate a store;

transmitting said information identifying the recipient device from the initiator device to the store via the communication network.

32. A database comprising a plurality of data entries relating to user devices capable of communicating in a communications network, wherein each entry comprises:

information necessary to establish a communication with a user device via the communications network; and

information relating to the number of communication events occurring with the user device across the communications network.

33. A database as claimed in claim 32 wherein the communications network comprises a first network and a second network.

34. A database as claimed in claim 33 wherein the number of communication events occurring with the user device across the communications network relate to the number of communication events occurring between the first network and the second network.