Contact information synchronization system and method

• US 9,219,808 B2
• Filed: 12/11/2013
• Issued: 12/22/2015
• 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
• Primary Examiner(s): SHAHEED, KHALID W
• Application Number:
  US14/102,529
• Publication Number:
  US 20140099930A1
• Time in Patent Office: 741 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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 maintained by an SNS server containing at least a processor, comprising:

determining, by the user terminal containing at least a processor, 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, by the user terminal, contact information from the first address book to the SNS network;

matching, by one of the user terminal and the SNS server, contact information in the first address book against contact information in the second address book;

identifying, by one of the user terminal and the SNS server, 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, by one of the user terminal and the SNS server, information of the contact person in the first address book and information of the contact person in the second address book;

wherein before matching contact information in the first address book against contact information in the second address book, and when the contact information includes a phone number, the phone number is standardized according to one or more processing rules, including;

setting a predefined number of digits n for standardized mobile phone numbers;

if the phone number has n digits, directly reading the phone number as a standardized mobile phone number;

if the phone number includes more than n digits, reading the last n digits as a standardized mobile phone number; and

if the phone number includes at least one of parenthesis and dashes, removing the parenthesis and dashes, and only reading the n digits as a standardized mobile phone number

wherein the synchronizing further includes;

if 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

if 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;

wherein when the synchronization target is the SNS network address book,

after 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

after 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

wherein when the synchronization target is the terminal address book,

after 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

after 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.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein:

when the synchronization target is the SNS network address book,

if 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,

if 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.