METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR DETERMINING POPULARITY OF AN ENTERPRISE AND ASSOCIATING A RANKING FACTOR BASED ON POPULARITY WITH CONTACT INFORMATION FOR THE ENTERPRISE STORED LOCALLY ON A COMMUNICATION DEVICE

• US 20090171934A1
• Filed: 12/28/2007
• Published: 07/02/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 12/28/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nitesh Ratnakar
• Original Assignee: Nitesh Ratnakar
• Inventors: Ratnakar, Nitesh
• Granted Patent: US 8,180,329 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/00 Commerce

Abstract

Electronic interaction with an enterprise is tracked and used to determine the popularity of the enterprise. A ranking factor is determined for each enterprise from the popularity and associated with contact information for the enterprise. The ranking factor is transmitted to a communication device containing the contact information wherein the ranking factor is associated with the contact information. The ranking factor may be used to sort the enterprises having contact information stored on the communication device in response to a user-initiated search query.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

accessing data indicating instances of electronic communication with an enterprise;

determining a ranking factor for the enterprise based on a statistical evaluation of the number of instances of electronic communication with the enterprises;

associating the ranking factor with contact information for the enterprise; and

displaying the contact information according to ranking factor for the enterprise on a display screen of a communication device.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising searching a contact list stored on the communication device and displaying results of the search on the communication device sorted by ranking factor.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein accessing data includes tracking a number of telephone calls associated with the enterprise.

4. The method of claim 3 further comprising counting the number of telephone calls and storing the number in a central database.

5. The method of claim 4 further comprising updating the number stored on the central database each time a telephone call involving the enterprise occurs.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein accessing data includes tracking a number of credit card transactions with the enterprise.

7. The method of claim 6 further comprising counting the number of credit card transactions and storing the number in a central database.

8. The method of claim 7 further comprising updating the number stored on the central database each time a credit card transaction with the enterprise is conducted.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein accessing includes tracking a number of hits to a website for the enterprise.

10. The method of claim 9 further comprising counting the number of hits and storing the number in a central database.

11. The method of claim 10 further comprising updating the number stored on the central database at regular pre-defined intervals.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein the ranking factor is determined from a sum of the number of instances of electronic communication with the enterprise.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein the electronic communication includes telephone calls received or placed by the enterprise, credit card transactions with the enterprise, and hits to a website for the enterprise.

14. The method of claim 1 further comprising updating the ranking factor associated with the enterprise and transmitting the updated ranking factor to a communication device maintaining contact information for the enterprise.

15. The method of claim 1 further comprising saving at least one of the contact information for the enterprise and the ranking factor for the enterprise in a central database.

16. The method of claim 1 further comprising saving at least one of the contact information for the enterprise and the ranking factor for the enterprise in memory of the communication device.

17. A system comprising:

a centralized server maintaining a database containing contact information for a plurality of enterprises;

a plurality of remote communication devices communicatively linked with the centralized server, each remote communication device having a contact list containing at least a portion of the contact information maintained in the database; and

means for tracking electronic interaction with each enterprise and automatically updating the contact information for each enterprise in the contact list of each remote communication device to include a ranking factor based on the electronic interaction.

18. The system of claim 17 further comprising means for statistically evaluating popularity of an enterprise based on the electronic interaction with the enterprise.

19. The system of claim 17 further comprising means for tracking interaction of a communication device with an enterprise and means for determining a localized ranking factor for the enterprise that is associated with the contact information for the enterprise maintained in the contact list stored locally on the communication device.

20. A method comprising:

accessing data indicating instances of electronic communication with an enterprise;

determining a ranking factor for each instance of electronic communication with the enterprise;

determining total ranking factor for all instances of electronic communication with the enterprise; and

displaying the contact information according to total ranking factor for the enterprise on a display screen of a communication device.