User-maintained contact information data system

• US 8,015,058 B2
• Filed: 08/12/2005
• Issued: 09/06/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 08/12/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Salesforce.com, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Salesforce.com, Inc.
• Inventors: Sien, Peng Chong, Fowler, James F., Fattahi, Saaed, Lenga, Kenneth R., Moulton, Garth B., Madhavan, Rajan
• Primary Examiner(s): Boveja; Namrata
• Assistant Examiner(s): HAMILTON, MATTHEW L
• Application Number:
  US11/203,012
• Publication Number:
  US 20060116896A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,216 Days
• Field of Search: 705/14
• US Class Current: 705/14.11
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/00 Administration; Management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0208 Trade or exchange of goods or services in exchange for incentives or rewards
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0231 Awarding of a frequent usage incentive independent of the monetary value of a good or service purchased, or distance travelled

Abstract

There is provided a method and system to maintain published contact information. The system includes a storage facility to store contact information of a first entity at the system. The system further includes an interface to electronically publish, via a communications network, the contact information of the first entity to a plurality of users of the system and receive, at the system, information relating to validity of the contact information of the first entity. The information is received via the communications network from a first user of the plurality of users. The system further includes a stored value module automatically to provide a reward to the first user responsive to the receipt of the information relating to the validity of the contact information of the first entity.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a network interface;

one or more processors; and

a machine-readable medium storing a set of instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the machine to perform operations comprising;

receiving contact information of an entity wherein the contact information was received from a first user of a plurality of users of the system;

publishing the contact information to the plurality of users;

providing a first reward to the first user of the plurality of users;

receiving, from a second user of the plurality of users, validity information relating to the contact information;

determining, by the one or more processors, an information type of the validity information, the information type consisting of at least one of;

challenging validity of the contact information;

updating the contact information;

or

confirming the validity of the contact information;

determining, by the one or more processors, a second reward of a predetermined value based on the validity information;

providing the second reward to the second user in response to the receiving of the validity information relating to the contact information;

modifying a total stored value for the second user with the value of the second reward; and

taking an action, by the one or more processors, on the total stored value, wherein the action comprises redeeming, selling, purchasing, transferring, or exchanging at least a portion of the total stored value.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:

automatically determine the information type of the validity information; and

automatically determine a value of the second reward based on the determined information type.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:

immediately award a first portion of the second reward, and

award a second portion of the second reward subsequent to a first predetermined time period.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:

provide a notification of receipt of the validity information to the first user, and

solicit a response to the notification from the first user.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to only provide the notification to the first user when the validity information is received within a second predetermined time period since receipt of the contact information from the first user.

6. The system of claim 4, wherein the validity information is a validity challenge to the contact information received from the first user, and the one or more processors are further configured to withdraw publication of the contact information upon expiration of a third predetermined time period when the first user does not provide a contesting response to the challenge.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to subject the second user to a penalty when the validity information received from the second user is determined to be incorrect.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to subject the first user to a penalty when the validity information received from the second user is determined to be correct.

22. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:

receive, from the first user, a response to the notification of receipt of the validity information, wherein the response from the first user concedes the validity information to be correct; and

validate the validity information received from the second user.

23. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:

receive, from the first user, a response to the notification of receipt of the validity information, wherein the response from the first user does not concede the validity information to be correct;

transmit information to notify the second user that the first user does not concede the validity information to be correct; and

solicit a response from the second user.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:

receive, from the second user, a response that the second user concedes the validity information to be incorrect; and

subject the second user to a penalty.

25. The system of claim 23, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:

receive, from the second user, a response that the second user does not concede the validity information to be incorrect; and

subject the validity information received from the second user to at least one of an appeal or an arbitration process when there is a disagreement between the first and second users regarding accuracy of the validity information received from the second user.

9. A method to maintain contact information published by a contact information computer system associated with a plurality of users, the method comprising:

receiving contact information of a first entity of a plurality of entities, wherein the contact information was received from a first user of the plurality of users;

publishing, by a processor, the contact information to the plurality of users;

providing, by the processor, a first reward to the first user of the plurality of users;

receiving, from a second user of the plurality of users, validity information relating to the contact information;

determining, by the processor, an information type of the validity information, the information type consisting of at least one of;

challenging validity of the contact information,

updating the contact information, or

confirming the validity of the contact information;

determining, by the processor, a second reward of a predetermined value based on the validity information;

providing a second reward, by the processor, to the second user in response to the receiving of the validity information relating to the contact information;

modifying, by the processor, a total stored value for the second user with the value of the second reward; and

taking an action, by the processor, on the total stored value, wherein the action comprises redeeming, selling, purchasing, transferring, or exchanging at least a portion of the total stored value.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, further comprising:

determining the information type of the validity information; and

automatically determining a value of the second reward based on the determined information type.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, wherein the automatic provision of the second reward to the second user comprises:

immediately awarding a first portion of the second reward; and

awarding a second portion of the second reward subsequent to a first predetermined time period.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, further comprising:

providing a notification of receipt of the validity information to the first user, and

soliciting a response to the notification from the first user.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 12, further comprising only providing the notification to the first user based on the validity information being received within a second predetermined time period since receipt of the contact information from the first user.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 12, wherein the validity information is a validity challenge to the contact information received from the first user, the computer-implemented method further comprising withdrawing publication of the contact information after a third predetermined time period when the first user does not provide a contesting response to the challenge.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim claim 9, further comprising subjecting the second user to a penalty when the validity information received from the second user is determined to be incorrect.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim claim 9, further comprising subjecting the first user to a penalty when the validity information received from the second user is determined to be correct.

18. The computer-implemented method of claim 12, further comprising:

receiving, from the first user, a response to the notification of receipt of the validity information, wherein the response from the first user concedes the validity information to be correct; and

validating the validity information received from the second user.

19. The computer-implemented method of claim 12, further comprising:

receiving, from the first user, a response to the notification of receipt of the validity information, wherein the response from the first user does not concede the validity information to be correct;

transmitting information to notify the second user that the first user does not concede the validity information to be correct; and

soliciting a response from the second user.

20. The computer-implemented method of claim 19, further comprising:

receiving, from the second user, a response that the second user concedes the validity information to be incorrect; and

subjecting the second user to a penalty.

21. The computer-implemented method of claim 19, further comprising:

receiving, from the second user, a response that the second user does not concede the validity information to be incorrect; and

subjecting the validity information received from the second user to at least one of an appeal or an arbitration process when there is a disagreement between the first and second users regarding accuracy of the validity information received from the second user.

17. A non-transitory machine readable medium storing a set of instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of a machine, cause the machine to perform operations comprising:

receiving contact information of a first entity at the system, wherein the contact information was received from a first user of a plurality of users of a contact information computer system;

publishing, via a communications network, the contact information to the plurality of users;

providing, by the one or more processors, a first reward to the first user of the plurality of users;

receiving, from a second user of the plurality of users, validity information relating to the contact information;

determining, by the one or more processors, an information type of the validity information, the information type consisting of at least one of;

challenging validity of the contact information,

updating the contact information, or

confirming the validity of the contact information;

determining, by the one or more processors, the amount of the second reward according to a predetermined value based on the validity information;

providing a second reward to the second user in response to the receiving of the validity information relating of the contact information;

modifying, by the one or more processors, a total stored value for the second user with the value of the second reward; and

taking an action, by the one or more processors, on the total stored value, wherein the action comprises redeeming, selling, purchasing, transferring, or exchanging at least a portion of the total stored value.