Contact management update protocols

• US 7,774,368 B2
• Filed: 06/30/2006
• Issued: 08/10/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 11/07/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: TiVo Corporation (Adeia Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Plaxo Incorporated (Comcast Corporation)
• Inventors: Shear, Joseph B., Masonis, John T., Ring, Cameron T., Carey, Richard J., King, Ryan A.
• Primary Examiner(s): MIZRAHI, DIANE D
• Application Number:
  US11/428,295
• Publication Number:
  US 20060242210A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,502 Days
• Field of Search: 707/1, 707/10, 707/102, 707/104.1, 707/204, 705/8, 709/204, 709/206
• US Class Current: 707/792
• 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: H04L 67/04 specially adapted for terminals or networks with limited capabilities; specially adapted for terminal portability
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99954 Version management

Abstract

A system and a method are disclosed for synchronizing folders between one or more layers of folders. It includes selecting layers to link together, comparing folders in the selected layers using an immutable identifier, parsing the folders of each of the selected layers into fields, comparing the fields of parsed folders of the selected layers, and determining whether to synchronize the folders of the selected layers based on conflict rules triggered in response to the comparison of the fields of the parsed folders. Also disclosed is a system and method of merging two or more folders in a network into a single folder. It includes comparing entries between folders to identify duplicate entries, grouping the identified duplicate entries in each folder, generating a matrix from the duplicates grouping and assigning each matrix entry a value, and matching the matrix entries based on the assigned values to determine an extent to merge an identified duplicate entry.

Claims

1. A method for updating contact information, comprising:

receiving at a server computer a request from a user member to update contact information for one or more contacts in a contact information folder for the member, said request received over the Internet;

searching for the one or more contacts in a universal address book stored in a service database of the server computer to determine whether each of the contacts is a member or non-member of a service provider maintaining the server computer;

generating a first update request message for each of the one or more contacts who are determined to be members;

generating a second update request message for each of the one or more contacts who are determined not to be members;

sending each first update request message using a private protocol; and

sending each second update request message using a public protocol,

wherein each update request message requests that the recipient provide updated contact information.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising verifying contact information for a contact included in the universal address book prior to sending the update request message.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving new contact information from a contact where there is no contact information for the contact included in the universal address book.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving revised contact information from a contact where the contact information for the contact included in the universal address book is no longer correct.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the public protocol comprises an electronic mail protocol.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the private protocol comprises a proprietary messaging protocol.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein the universal address book is usable to determine membership in a service provider performing the receiving, searching, and sending steps.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein searching to determine whether each of the contacts is a member or non-member comprises determining whether each of the contacts is a member or a non-member of a service provider associated with the receiving, searching, and sending steps.

7. A method for maintaining contact information, comprising:

receiving updated contact information from a non-member in response to a request by a first member for the updated contact information;

updating first stored contact information in a first folder stored on a first device for the first member using the updated contact information received from the non-member; and

synchronizing the first stored contact information in the first folder with a universal address book stored on a server computer and with second stored contact information in a second folder stored on a second device for a second member.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the first and second devices are client computers.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the first and second stored contact information are synchronized over multiple client computers for a plurality of members.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein receiving the updated contact information includes receiving an indication that the first stored contact information for the non-member has been verified to be correct.

11. The method of claim 7, wherein receiving the updated contact information includes receiving current contact information from the non-member, wherein the current contact information is different from the first stored contact information for the non-member.

12. The method of claim 7, wherein the non-member is a non-member of a service provider associated with the receiving, updating, and synchronizing steps, and

wherein the first member and the second member are members of the service provider.

13. A computing system comprising:

a processor configured to execute instructions; and

a computer readable medium for storing the instructions, the instructions when executed by the processor cause the computing system to;

receive from a user member a request to update contact information for one or more contacts in a contact information folder for the member, said request received over the Internet;

search for the one or more contacts in a universal address book to determine whether each of the contacts is a member or non-member of a service provider maintaining the computing system;

generate a first update request message for each of the one or more contacts who are determined to be members;

generate a second update request message for each of the one or more contacts who are determined not to be members;

send each first update request message using a private protocol; and

send each second update request message using a public protocol,

wherein each update request message requests that the one or more contacts provide updated contact information.

14. The computer system of claim 13, further comprising instructions to verify contact information for a contact included in the universal address book prior to sending the update request message.

15. The computer system of claim 13, further comprising instructions to receive new contact information from a contact where there is no contact information for the contact included in the universal address book.

16. The computer system of claim 13, further comprises instructions to receive revised contact information from a contact where the contact information for the contact included in the universal address book is no longer correct.

17. The computer system of claim 13, wherein the public protocol comprises an electronic mail protocol.

18. The computer system of claim 17, wherein the private protocol comprises a proprietary messaging protocol.

21. The system of claim 13, wherein the universal address book is usable to determine membership in a service provider associated with the computing system.

22. The system of claim 13, wherein searching to determine whether each of the contacts is a member or non-member comprises determining whether each of the contacts is a member or a non-member of a service provider associated with the computing system.