CONTACT INFORMATION SYNCHRONIZATION SYSTEM AND METHOD

• US 20140099930A1
• Filed: 12/11/2013
• Published: 04/10/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 10/21/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Tencent Technology Company Limited (Tencent Holdings Limited)
• Original Assignee: Tencent Technology Company Limited (Tencent Holdings Limited)
• Inventors: YU, SHUANGQUAN, WEN, GUANGHAI, XIAO, HAOYU, WANG, BAOHUA
• Granted Patent: US 9,219,808 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/414.1
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/2757 by data transmission, e.g. downloading
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/4931 Directory assistance systems

Abstract

A method for synchronizing between a first address book on a user terminal and a second address book on an SNS network includes determining a synchronization target and, when the synchronization target is determined as the first address book, downloading contact information from the second address book to the user terminal. The method also includes, when the synchronization target is determined as the second address book, uploading contact information from the first address book to the SNS network, and matching the contact information in the first address book against the contact information in the second address book. Further, the method includes identifying a contact person having same contact information based on the matching and synchronizing information of the contact person in the first address book and information of the contact person in the second address book.

Claims

1. A method for synchronizing between a first address book on a user terminal and a second address book on a social network service (SNS) network, comprising:

determining a synchronization target;

when the synchronization target is determined as the first address book, downloading contact information from the second address book to the user terminal;

when the synchronization target is determined as the SNS network address book, uploading contact information from the first address book to the SNS network;

matching contact information in the first address book against contact information in the second address book;

identifying, based on the matching, a contact person having same contact information in the first address book and the second address book; and

after the contact person is identified, synchronizing information of the contact person in the first address book and information of the contact person in the second network address book.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the synchronizing further includes:

when the synchronization target is the SNS network address book, synchronizing the information of the contact person in the terminal address book to the information of the contact person in the SNS network address book as a new addition; and

when the synchronization target is the terminal address book, synchronizing the information of the contact person in the SNS network address book to the information of the contact person in the terminal address book as a new addition.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein:

the information includes one of a mobile phone number and an email address, or one or more of name, picture, mobile phone number, email address, fixed phone number, Uniform Resource Locator (URL) of friend'"'"'s personal home page, residential address, company name, birthday, job title, and Instant Messenger (IM) information.

4. The method according to claim 2, wherein:

when the synchronization target is the SNS network address book,

uploading the contact information in the terminal address book;

standardizing the contact information; and

uploading the information of the contact person from the terminal address book; and

when the synchronization target is the terminal address book,

downloading the contact information from the SNS network address book;

standardizing the contact information; and

downloading the information of the contact person from the SNS network address book.

5. The method according to claim 2, further including:

when the synchronization target is the SNS network address book,

when receiving a user instruction for modification, modifying newly added information of the contact person, and storing the modified information in the SNS network address book; and

when receiving a user instruction for deletion, deleting newly added information that is not modified from the SNS network address book, and keeping original information of the contact person in the SNS network address book or newly added but modified information in the SNS network address book, and

when the synchronization target is the terminal address book,

when receiving a user instruction for modification, modifying newly added information of the contact person, and storing the modified information in the terminal address book; and

when receiving a user instruction for deletion, deleting newly added information that is not modified from the terminal address book, and keeping original information of the contact person in the terminal address book or newly added but modified information in the terminal address book.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein:

when the synchronization target is the SNS network address book,

when the information of the contact person is changed in the SNS network address book, pushing changes on the information of the contact person in the SNS network address book to the terminal address book, and

when the synchronization target is the terminal address book,

when the information of the contact person is changed in the terminal address book, pushing changes on the information of the contact person in the terminal address book to the SNS network address book.

7. The method according to claim 1, further including:

synchronizing information of all contact persons with matching contact information in the first address book.

8. The method according to claim 7, further including:

obtaining the information of remaining contact persons, excluding the all contact persons with matching contact information in the first address book, in the second address book;

listing the remaining contact persons to a user; and

prompting the user to add any of the listed contact persons as a new contact to the first address book.

9. A user terminal, comprising:

a storing module configured to store a terminal address book;

a matching module configured to match contact information in the terminal address book against contact information in a SNS network address book;

an identifying module configured to, based on a matching result from the matching module, identify a contact person having same contact information in the terminal address book and the SNS address book ; and

a synchronizing module configured to, after the contact person is identified by the identifying module, synchronize information of the contact person in the terminal address book and information of the contact person in the SNS network address book.

10. The user terminal according to claim 9, wherein the synchronizing module is further configured to:

synchronizing the information of the identified contact person in the SNS network address book to the information of the contact person in the terminal address book as a new addition.

11. The user terminal according to claim 10, wherein:

the information includes one of a mobile phone number and an email address, or one or more of name, picture, phone number, email address, telephone number, friend'"'"'s personal home page URL, residential address, company name, birthday, job title, and IM information.

12. The user terminal according to claim 10, further including:

a processing module configured to process the contact information from the SNS network address book, and to standardize the contact information; and

a downloading module configured to download the information of the contact person in from the SNS network address book.

13. The user terminal according to claim 12, further including:

a maintaining module configured to;

when receiving a user instruction for modification, modify newly added information of the contact person, and store the modified information in the terminal address book; and

when receiving a user instruction for deletion, delete newly added information that is not modified from the terminal address book, and keep original information of the contact person in the terminal address book or newly added but modified information in the terminal address book.

14. The user terminal according to claim 13, further including:

a pushing module configured to, when the information of the contact person is changed in the terminal address book, push changes on the information of the contact person in the terminal address book to the SNS network address book.

15. The user terminal according to claim 9, wherein the synchronization module is further configured to:

synchronize information of all contact persons with matching contact information in the terminal address book.

16. The user terminal according to claim 15, wherein the synchronization module is further configured to:

obtain the information of remaining contact persons, excluding the all contact persons with matching contact information in the terminal address book, in the SNS network address book;

list the remaining contact persons to a user; and

prompt the user to add any of the listed contact persons as a new contact to the terminal address book.

17. A social network service (SNS) network server, comprising:

a storing module configured to store an SNS network address book;

a matching module configured to match contact information in the SNS network address book against contact information in the terminal address book;

an identifying module configured to identify a contact person having same contact information based on a matching result from the matching module; and

a synchronizing module configured to, after the contact person is identified by the identifying module, synchronize information of the contact person in the SNS network address book and information of the contact person in the terminal address book.

18. The SNS network server according to claim 17, wherein the synchronizing module is further configured to:

synchronizing the information of the identified contact person in the terminal address book to the information of the contact person in the SNS network address book as a new addition.

19. The SNS network server according to claim 18, wherein:

the information includes one of a mobile phone number and an email address, or one or more of name, picture, phone number, email address, telephone number, friend'"'"'s personal home page URL, residential address, company name, birthday, job title, and IM information.

20. The SNS network server according to claim 18, further including:

a processing module configured to process the contact information from the terminal address book, and to standardize the contact information; and

an obtaining module configured to obtain the information of the contact person in from the terminal address book.

21. The SNS network server according to claim 20, further including:

a maintaining module configured to;

when receiving a user instruction for modification, modify newly added information of the contact person, and store the modified information in the SNS network address book; and

when receiving a user instruction for deletion, delete newly added information that is not modified from the SNS network address book, and keep original information of the contact person in the SNS network address book or newly added but modified information in the SNS network address book.

22. The SNS network server according to claim 21, further including:

a pushing module configured to, when the information of the contact person is changed in the SNS network address book, push changes on the information of the contact person in the SNS network address book to the terminal address book.