GENERATING AND IMPLEMENTING A-LISTS TO MANAGE USER RELATIONSHIPS

• US 20120254169A1
• Filed: 04/09/2012
• Published: 10/04/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 04/29/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AOL Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Landsman, Richard A., Wetherell, William G., Louie, David Gee, Dotter, Karl Andrew, Kramer, Richard T.
• Granted Patent: US 9,495,685 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/736
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/248 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/435 Filtering based on additional data, e.g. user or group profiles
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/90335 Query processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/00 Commerce
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking

Abstract

Methods, systems, and computer program products for dynamically generating and displaying a contacts list for one or more services of a computing system. The method comprises identifying one or more contacts having associated contact information, the one or more contacts being associated with a user of the computing system, wherein the one or more contacts are identified across one or more information services or sources associated with the computing system; determining a subset of the one or more contacts and associated contact information based on a set of predefined criteria; generating a list of the subset of contacts and associated contact information; and displaying the generated list of contacts and associated contact information on the user interface.

Claims

1-20. -20. (canceled)

21. A computer-implemented method for dynamically generating a contacts list, the method comprising:

identifying one or more contacts having associated contact information, the one or more contacts being associated with a user of a computing system and being identified across one or more information services or sources associated with the computing system;

determining, using at least one processor, a subset of the one or more contacts and associated contact information based on a set of predefined criteria, the predefined criteria including a frequency of contact between the one or more contacts and the user of the computing system; and

generating, based on the determination, a contacts list including the subset of contacts and associated contact information for the user.

22. The method of claim 21, further comprising:

determining, based on the predetermined criteria, that at least one contact should no longer be included on the generated contacts list; and

removing the at least one contact and associated contact information from the generated contacts list.

23. The method of claim 21, further comprising:

determining, based on the predefined criteria, that at least one of the identified contacts should be added to the generated contacts list; and

adding the at least one identified contact and associated contact information to the generated contacts list.

24. The method of claim 21, wherein the subset is a first subset and the set of predefined criteria is a first set of predefined criteria, and wherein the method further comprises:

determining, using the at least one processor, a second subset of the one or more contacts and associated contact information based on a second set of predefined criteria that is different from the first set of predefined criteria; and

generating a list of the second subset of contacts and associated contact information.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein a member of the list of the second subset of contacts is also a member of the list of the first subset of contacts.

26. The method of claim 24, further comprising:

determining, using the at least one processor, a subset of one or more lists of contacts and associated contact information based on a third set of predefined criteria; and

generating a list comprising the subset of the one or more lists of contacts and associated information.

27. The method of claim 21, further comprising:

defining a priority of the contact information that is to be used by the user of the computing system when contacting a member of the generated contacts list.

28. The method of claim 21, wherein the set of predefined criteria further includes at least one of a message content, a location, or a domain.

29. The method of claim 21, wherein the associated contact information includes at least one of an email address, an instant messaging address, a phone number, a video feed, an audio feed, a RSS feed, or a picture.

30. The method of claim 21, further comprising:

enabling a display of the generated contacts list to the user, the display including one or more tabs or graphics associated with the contact information, the tabs or graphics configured to enable communication between the user of the computing system and an entity associated with the contact information.

31. The method of claim 21, further comprising:

providing an indication to the user that changes have been made to the contact information associated with one or more contacts of the generated contacts list.

32. A tangible computer-readable medium with a set of programmable instructions that are executable by at least one processor to cause the at least one processor to:

identify one or more contacts having associated contact information, the one or more contacts being associated with a user of a computing system and being identified across one or more information services or sources associated with the computing system;

determine a subset of the one or more contacts and associated contact information based on a set of predefined criteria, the predefined criteria including a frequency of contact between the one or more contacts and the user of the computing system; and

generate, based on the determination, a contacts list including the subset of contacts and associated contact information for the user.

33. The computer-readable medium of claim 32, wherein the set of instructions further cause the at least one processor to:

determine, based on the predetermined criteria, that at least one contact should no longer be included on the generated contacts list; and

remove the at least one contact and associated contact information from the generated contacts list.

34. The computer-readable medium of claim 32, wherein the set of instructions further cause the at least one processor to:

determine, based on the predefined criteria, that at least one of the identified contacts should be added to the generated contacts list; and

add the at least one identified contact and associated contact information to the generated contacts list.

35. The computer-readable medium of claim 32, wherein the subset is a first subset and the set of predefined criteria is a first set of predefined criteria, and wherein the set of instructions further cause the at least one processor to:

determine a second subset of the one or more contacts and associated contact information based on a second set of predefined criteria that is different from the first set of predefined criteria; and

generate a list of the second subset of contacts and associated contact information.

36. The computer-readable medium of claim 35, wherein the set of instructions further cause the at least one processor to:

determine a subset of one or more lists of contacts and associated contact information based on a third set of predefined criteria; and

generate a list comprising the subset of the one or more lists of contacts and associated information.

37. The computer-readable medium of claim 32, wherein the set of instructions further cause the at least one processor to:

define a priority of the contact information that is to be used by the user of the computing system when contacting a member of the generated contacts list.

38. The computer-readable medium of claim 32, wherein the set of instructions further cause the at least one processor to:

enable a display of the generated contacts list to the user, the display including one or more tabs or graphics associated with the contact information, the tabs or graphics configured to enable communication between the user of the computing system and an entity associated with the contact information.

39. The computer-readable medium of claim 32, wherein the set of instructions further cause the at least one processor to:

provide an indication to the user that changes have been made to the contact information associated with one or more contacts of the generated contacts list.

40. The computer-readable medium of claim 32, wherein the computer-readable medium includes one of RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM, other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices.