Automatic contact linking from multiple sources

• US 9,317,839 B2
• Filed: 10/07/2010
• Issued: 04/19/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 10/07/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Doggett, Chani Ayn, Howard, Gregory Alan, Muraira, Rebecca Anne, Lee, James Chun-Yuan, Wolfe, Kenneth, Frijlink, Naud, Garbis, Christer
• Primary Examiner(s): LIN, SHEW FEN
• Application Number:
  US12/900,167
• Publication Number:
  US 20120089644A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,021 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/109 Time management, e.g. calendars, reminders, meetings or time accounting
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/52 for supporting social networking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/4594 Address books, i.e. directories containing contact information about correspondents telephone directories in user terminals H04M1/27453

Abstract

Linking data items describing a person into a single, unified contact entry without merging the data items. The data items include, for example, contact data, social network data, and other data describing the person. The contact entry is a single representation of the person that, in some embodiments, combines a plurality of personas of the person without merging the underlying data items. Metadata representing one or more contact entries is capable of being shared across a plurality of devices and applications such that a user is presented with a consistent contact list on different devices and from within different applications. In some embodiments, the user annotates one or more of the contact entries with notes or other data that is stored with the metadata.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a memory area associated with a mobile computing device of a device user, said memory area storing a plurality of contact entries, the plurality of contact entries associated with data items relating to a plurality of users, said data items being provided by data sources; and

a processor programmed to;

receive, from the data sources, at least one of the data items associated with one of the plurality of users;

search the plurality of contact entries stored in the memory area based on the received data item to identify a matching contact entry;

compare the received data item, that is used for the search to identify the matching contact entry, with one or more of the data items associated with the matching contact entry;

determine whether the matching contact entry is a false-positive match based on a confidence factor for the matching contact entry;

store, as a single contact entry representing the one of the plurality of users, without seeking approval from the device user, without merging the received data item and the data items associated with the matching contact entry, and without modifying the received data item and the data items associated with the matching contact entry, the received data item with the matching contact entry based on the determination that no false-positive matches are found; and

provide a user interface that allows the device user to unlink one or more existing linked contact entries representing the one of the plurality of users and provides suggestions for linking one or more unlinked contact entries having incomplete data to the matching contact entry of the single contact entry, wherein the one or more existing linked contact entries and the one or more unlinked contact entries are displayed in the same user interface.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor is further programmed to:

receive an annotation from the device user; and

store said received annotation with the matching contact entry without modifying the received data item and the data items associated with the matching contact entry.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to transmit one or more of the plurality of contact entries stored in the memory area to another computing device associated with the device user.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to:

receive a request from the device user to remove one or more of the data items from one of the plurality of contact entries;

responsive to the received request, remove said one or more of the data items from the one of the plurality of contact entries; and

create another contact entry to store the removed data items.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the data items comprise one or more of the following:

contact information, electronic mail message data, instant message data, social network message data, and microblog data.

6. The system of claim 1, further comprising means for determining whether the matching contact entry is the false-positive match.

7. The system of claim 1, further comprising means for combining the data items to create groups of the data items, wherein the groups are associated with the plurality of users.

8. A method comprising:

accessing data sources available to a computing device of a device user, said data sources providing data items associated with a plurality of users;

searching the data items provided by the accessed data sources to identify groups of the data items, wherein one of the identified groups is associated with one of the plurality of users;

analyzing the identified groups to identify false-positive data items within the identified groups based on a confidence factor for each of the identified groups;

removing the identified false-positive data items within the identified groups;

creating, without seeking approval from the device user after removing the identified false-positive data items within the identified groups and without modifying the data items stored by the data sources, contact entries for the identified groups to provide access to the data items associated with the identified groups, wherein a contact entry of the created contact entries is a single representation of the one of the plurality of users, the single representation combining the data items stored in the data sources by automatically linking the data sources without merging the data items from the data sources; and

providing the created contact entries to the device user; and

presenting a user interface that allows the device user to unlink one or more existing linked contact entries, representing the one of the plurality of users, from one of the created contact entries and provides suggestions for linking one or more unlinked contact entries having incomplete data to the one of the contact entries, wherein the existing linked contact entries and the one or more unlinked contact entries are displayed in the same user interface.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein searching the data items comprises searching one or more of the following:

contact information, electronic mail message data, instant message data, social network message data, and microblog data.

10. The method of claim 8, further comprising storing links, for accessing the data items associated with the one of the plurality of users from the data sources, as metadata within the created contact entries, the metadata including information defining display of the one of the created contact entries based on an application executing on the computing device.

11. The method of claim 8, further comprising providing the metadata to another computing device associated with the device user.

12. The method of claim 8, further comprising identifying the false-positive data items by comparing one or more of the following among the data items within each of the identified groups:

middle names, suffixes, telephone numbers, and electronic mail addresses.

13. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

receiving an annotation from the device user for the one of the created contact entries; and

storing said received annotation with the one of the created contact entries without modifying the data items associated with the one of the created contact entries and stored by the data sources.

14. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

receiving a request from the device user to remove one or more of the data items from at least one of the identified groups; and

responsive to the received request, removing said one or more of the data items from said at least one of the identified groups.

15. The method of claim 8, wherein the data items comprise one or more of the following:

contact information, electronic mail message data, instant message data, social network message data, and microblog data.

16. One or more computer storage media storing computer-executable components, said components comprising:

an interface component that when executed by at least one processor of a computing device causes the at least one processor to receive, from a device user associated with the computing device, one or more first data items associated with one of a plurality of users;

an aggregation component that when executed by at least one processor of the computing device causes the at least one processor to search data sources based on the one or more first data items received by the interface component to identify second data items stored by one or more of the data sources;

a link component that when executed by at least one processor of the computing device causes the at least one processor to;

define a group including the one or more first data items and the second data items identified by the aggregation component, wherein the defined group is associated with said one of the plurality of users; and

create, without seeking approval from the device user after defining the group, one contact entry providing read-only access to the one or more first data items and second data items associated with the defined group, the one contact entry further providing suggestions for linking additional data items, wherein the interface component further provides the created contact entry to the device user; and

a ghosting component that when executed by at least one processor of the computing device causes the at least one processor to receive an annotation from the device user and to store the received annotation without modifying the one or more first data items associated with the defined group and without modifying the second data items associated with the defined group, the received annotation being stored in a writeable contact entry linked to and created based on the one contact entry without storing the annotation in the one contact entry.

17. The computer storage media of claim 16, wherein the link component is further executed to:

analyze the defined group to identify false-positive matches in the second data items; and

remove the identified false-positive matches from the defined group.

18. The computer storage media of claim 16, wherein the link component defines the group by updating an existing group with the one or more first data items received by the interface component and with the second data items identified by the aggregation component, wherein a plurality of groups are formed iteratively with false-positive matches being removed before the group is defined.

19. The computer storage media of claim 16, wherein the link component defines the group by creating metadata identifying the one or more first data items and the second data items identified by the aggregation component.

20. The computer storage media of claim 19, wherein the link component provides the metadata created by the link component to another computing device of the device user as one or more links to the first data items and second data items, the one or more links enabling the device user to access the one contact entry from the another computing device.