Instant contact searching and presentation by category

• US 20080208812A1
• Filed: 02/28/2007
• Published: 08/28/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 02/28/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: R2 Solutions LLC (Acacia Research Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Yahoo! Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Trevor, Jonathan James, Ho, Edward, Wascovich, Daniel James, Quoc, Michael, Fukuda, Matthew, Ott, Edward Stanley
• Granted Patent: US 8,370,349 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/3
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management

Abstract

A device, system, and method are directed towards enabling a mobile device user to perform a federated search across a plurality of disparate contact data stores, including a phone directory, IM store, an email address book, a buddy list, a social networking group, a SMS list, or any of a variety of other communication contact data stores. When a user inputs a character, a dynamic search is performed across the various contact data stores. The results of the search may be repeatedly updated based on additional input characters. The results of the search may be displayed on the mobile device organized by categories of the contact data stores and/or a preferred communication mechanism. The results may also indicate a preferred mechanism for communicating with the displayed name.

Claims

1. A server device to manage a mobile communication, comprising:

a transceiver to send and receive data over a network; and

a processor that is operative to perform actions, comprising;

determining a plurality of contact data stores having at least one contact name and an associated address, each of the contact data stores being associated with a mode of communication;

receiving at least one character from a mobile device for use in a search;

performing a federated search across each of the plurality of contact data stores based on the at least one character;

displaying, at the mobile device, a list of contact names and associated addresses based on the search, the displayed contact names and associated addresses being displayed within categories based on the plurality contact data stores; and

if a selection of a contact name and an associated address from the displayed list is received, automatically establishing a communication with the selected contact name using the associated address.

2. The server device of claim 1, wherein the displayed list further indicates a preferred associated address for at least one contact name.

3. The server device of claim 1, wherein the displayed list is further displayed with a preferred mode of communication for a search user being higher on an ordered list of contact names than a non-preferred mode of communication.

4. The server device of claim 1, wherein the modes of communication further comprise at least one of email, SMS, IM, VoIP, or Phone.

5. The server device of claim 1, wherein the at least one character further comprises a portion of a telephone number, a portion of an email address, a portion of an SMS address, a portion of an IM address, a portion of a contact name from a buddy list, or portion of a contact name.

6. The server device of claim 1, wherein determining the plurality of contact data stores further comprises at least one of employing a default set of contact data stores, employing a set of contact data stores based on a frequency of use by a search user, or enabling a search user to select the plurality of contact data stores.

7. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for sharing of event information over a network, the computer-executable instructions when installed onto a computing device enable the computing device to perform actions comprising:

determining a plurality of contact data stores, each contact data store being associated with a mode of communicating over a network and comprising at least one contact name and an associated address;

in response to receiving from a mobile device at least one character, dynamically repeating a federated search of the plurality of contact data stores for a match of the at least one character within the at least one contact name or address; and

displaying a result of the search, at the mobile device, comprising a dynamic list of contact names and addresses organized based on the plurality of contact data stores.

8. The computer-readable medium of claim 7, wherein the actions further comprise:

receiving a selection of an address from within the displayed result of the search; and

automatically initiating a communication using a mode of communications associated with the selected address.

9. The computer-readable medium of claim 7, wherein displaying the result of the search further comprises displaying at least one matching contact name and associated address with an identifier indicating a preferred mode of communication to use for a contact name.

10. The computer-readable medium of claim 7, wherein at least one contact name may be included within more than one contact data store.

11. The computer-readable medium of claim 7, wherein dynamically repeating the search further comprises repeating the search based on receiving at least one more character from the mobile device.

12. The computer-readable medium of claim 7, wherein determining a plurality of contact data stores further comprises enabling a user of the mobile device to select from a list of contact data stores.

13. The computer-readable medium of claim 7, wherein dynamically repeating a search further comprises performing an auto-completion of characters employable in performing the search, based in part, on the result of the search.

14. A mobile device for sharing information, comprising:

a memory component for storing data; and

a processing component for executing data that enables actions, comprising;

determining a plurality of contact data stores having at least one contact name and an associated address, each of the contact data stores being associated with a mode of communication;

sending, to a server, at least one character for use in a search;

displaying a list of contact names and associated addresses based on a federated search performed over the determined plurality of contact data stores, the displayed contact names and associated addresses being displayed in an order that is based on categories determined from the determined plurality contact data stores; and

sending a selection of a contact name and an associated address from the displayed list is received, to automatically establish a communication with the selected contact name using the associated address.

15. The mobile device of claim 14, wherein determining a plurality of contact data stores further comprises enabling a user of the mobile device to select from a list of contact data stores, or employing a default list of contact data stores.

16. The mobile device of claim 14, wherein sending at least one character further comprises sending at least one character associated with at least one of a telephone number, an email address, an alias, a contact name, an SMS address, or an IM address.

17. A method for managing a mobile communication, comprising:

determining a plurality of contact data stores, each contact data store being associated with a mode of communicating over a network and comprising at least one contact name and an associated address;

in response to receiving from a mobile device at least one character for use in performing a search, dynamically searching the determined plurality of contact data stores for a match of the at least one character; and

displaying a result of the search, at the mobile device, wherein the result is a dynamic list of contact names and addresses categorized based on the plurality of contact data stores.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein displaying the result further comprises displaying an identifier next to at least one of a contact name or an address indicating a mode of communication more frequently used to receive a message from that contact name.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein the displayed list is further displayed with a preferred mode of communication for a search user being displayed higher on the list than a non-preferred mode of communication.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein the modes of communication further comprise at least one of email, SMS, IM, VoIP, or Phone.

21. A modulated data signal configured to include program instructions for performing the method of claim 17.

22. An apparatus to manage a mobile communication, comprising:

a transceiver to send and receive data over a network;

means for determining a plurality of contact data stores for use in performing a mobile device requested search;

means for automatically determining at least one contact name and address for a display from the plurality of contact data stores based on a partially entered contact name or address; and

means for displaying at a mobile device the results of the automatic determination, the results being organized by categories that identify the determined plurality of contact data stores from which each result item is obtained.