US-12627754-B2 - System, method, and apparatus for common contact management

US12627754B2US 12627754 B2US12627754 B2US 12627754B2US-12627754-B2

Abstract

A system for providing management of contact records includes a contact record that is associated with an initiator and is indexed by a phone number of the originator. To initiate delivery of some part of the contact record of the originator, the originator enters a phone number of a recipient into an application and some part of the fields of the contact record are transmitted to a device of the recipient where they are stored in the recipient's contact list. In some embodiments, the part of the fields sent is determined by a relationship between the initiator and the recipient such as family, co-worker, acquaintance, friend, stranger, etc. When changes are made to the contact record, the recipient device will receive updated information. Features are provided for automatic deletion of the subset of fields from the recipient device upon request or after a specified time period.

Inventors

Steve Richardson

Assignees

Steve Richardson

Dates

Publication Date: 20260512
Application Date: 20230807

Claims (16)

1 . A system for contact management, the system comprising: an initiator device and a recipient device, the recipient device having associated therewith a recipient phone number; a server, the server having a storage for storing contact records, each contact record comprising a phone number of an owner of the each contact record, one of the contact records being an initiator contact record that is associated with the initiator device; the recipient phone number is received by an application running on the initiator device, responsive to receiving the recipient phone number, the application running on the initiator device sends a transaction to the server through a network, the transaction comprising the recipient phone number; responsive to the transaction, software running on the server addresses the recipient device by way of the recipient phone number and the software running on the server sends an invitation transaction to the recipient device; software running on the recipient device receives the invitation transaction and requests acceptance; after the software running on the recipient device receives the acceptance, the software running on the recipient device sends an acceptance transaction to the server; after the server receives the acceptance transaction, the software running on the server sends a contact transaction to the software running on the recipient device, the contact transaction comprising at least part of the initiator contact record; and after the software running on recipient device receives the at least part of the initiator contact record, the software running on the recipient device stores the at least part of the initiator contact record in a phone contact list that is local to the recipient device.
2 . The system of claim 1 , whereas when the recipient phone number is received by the application running on the initiator device, a restriction is also inputted into the application running on the initiator device and the transaction further comprises the restriction, the restriction defining a relationship between an initiator device user and a recipient device user.
3 . The system of claim 2 , whereas when the software running on the server sends the contact transaction to the recipient device, the software running on the server includes specific fields of the initiator contact record based upon the restriction in the contact transaction.
4 . The system of claim 2 , whereas the restriction defines the relationship between the initiator device and the recipient device as a pre-configured restriction selected from a group consisting of co-workers, friends, acquaintances, and family.
5 . The system of claim 4 , whereas each pre-configured restriction defines a set of pre-selected fields of the initiator contact record and the software running on the server selects which fields of the initiator contact record that are added to the contact transaction based upon the set of pre-selected fields.
6 . The system of claim 1 , whereas after a change is made to a field of the initiator contact record that was sent to the initiator device, the software running on the server creates an update transaction comprising the field and the software running on the server sends the update transaction to the recipient device, and upon reception of the update transaction by the software running on the recipient device, the software running on the recipient device updates the initiator contact record that is stored in the phone contact list with the field.
7 . A method for contact management, the method comprising: an application that is running on an initiator device receiving a recipient phone number, the recipient phone number associated with a recipient device; responsive to the application receiving the recipient phone number, the application sending a transaction to a server, the transaction comprising the recipient phone number, the server having access to a plurality of contact records, each contact record comprising fields including at least a phone number field, the plurality of contact records including an initiator contact record that is associated with the initiator device; responsive to receiving the transaction, software running on the server sending an invitation transaction to the recipient device; responsive to the recipient device receiving the invitation transaction, the software running on the recipient device requesting acceptance of the invitation transaction; responsive to receiving the acceptance of the invitation transaction, the software running on the recipient device sending an acceptance transaction to the server; responsive to receiving the acceptance transaction at the server, the software running on the server selecting a set of fields from the initiator contact record and the software running on the server sending a data transaction comprising the set of fields to the recipient device; responsive to receiving the data transaction, the software running on the recipient device adding the set of fields to a phone contact list that is local to the recipient device; and whereas, thereafter, providing the recipient device with access to the set of fields in the phone contact list that is local to the recipient device.
8 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the step of receiving the recipient phone number by the application running on the initiator device further comprises: receiving a restriction, the restriction setting a limit of access by the recipient device to a specific set of the fields of the initiator contact record and in the step of the software running on the server selecting the set of fields from the initiator contact record, the software running on the server selecting the set of fields from the initiator contact record based upon the restriction.
9 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the restriction defines a relationship between an owner of the initiator device and an owner of the recipient device as a pre-configured restriction selected from a group consisting of co-workers, friends, acquaintances, and family and each pre-configured restriction defines the set of fields of the initiator contact record.
10 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the step of the application receiving the recipient phone number by the application running on the initiator device further comprises receiving a time restriction and the data transaction further comprises the time restriction and the software running on the recipient device after receiving the time restriction, when determining that a current time equals the time restriction, the software running on the recipient device erases the set of fields in the phone contact list that is local to the recipient device.
11 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the time restriction is a date and time-of-day.
12 . Program instructions tangibly embodied in a non-transitory storage medium comprising at least one instruction configured to implement a system for providing management of contact records, wherein the at least one instruction comprises: computer readable instructions executed by a first processor of an initiator device causing the initiator device to request a recipient phone number, the initiator device having an initiator phone number; responsive to the computer readable instructions executed by the first processor of the initiator device receiving the recipient phone number, the computer readable instructions executed by the first processor of the initiator device causing the first processor to send a transaction to a server, the transaction comprising the recipient phone number; responsive to receiving the transaction by the server, computer readable instructions executed by a second processor of the server causing the second processor to send an invitation transaction to a recipient device that is associated with the recipient phone number; responsive to receiving the invitation transaction at the recipient device, computer readable instructions executed by a third processor of the recipient device causing the third processor to request acceptance; responsive to receiving the acceptance by the computer readable instructions executed by the third processor, the computer readable instructions executed by the third processor causing the third processor to send an acceptance transaction to the server; responsive to receiving the acceptance transaction by the server, the computer readable instructions executed by the second processor of the server causing the second processor to send a data transaction comprising a set of fields from an initiator contact record that is associated with the initiator phone number to the recipient device, the set of fields being any or all fields of the initiator contact record; and responsive to receiving the data transaction by the computer readable instructions executed by the third processor of the recipient device, the computer readable instructions executed by the third processor of the recipient device causing the third processor to store the set of fields in a storage of the recipient device.
13 . The program instructions tangibly embodied in the non-transitory storage medium of claim 12 , wherein the computer readable instructions executed by the first processor of the initiator device further requesting a restriction for setting a relationship between the initiator device and the recipient device, and the transaction sent from the initiator device to the server comprises the restriction, and the computer readable instructions executed by the second processor use the restriction to determine which fields of the initiator contact record are included in the set of fields that are included in the data transaction.
14 . The program instructions tangibly embodied in the non-transitory storage medium of claim 13 , wherein the restriction defines the relationship between an initiator device owner and a recipient device owner as a pre-configured restriction selected from a group consisting of co-workers, friends, acquaintances, and family and each pre-configured restriction defines the set of fields of the initiator contact record.
15 . The program instructions tangibly embodied in the non-transitory storage medium of claim 12 , wherein the computer readable instructions executed by the first processor of the initiator device further controls the first processor to request a time restriction, and after receiving the time restriction, the computer readable instructions executed by the first processor of the initiator device further controls the first processor to include the time restriction in the transaction, and the computer readable instructions executed by the second processor of the server further controls the second processor to include the time restriction in the data transaction, and the computer readable instructions executed by the third processor of the recipient device controls the third processor to receive the time restriction with the data transaction and when the computer readable instructions executed by the third processor determine that a current time equals or is greater than the time restriction, the computer readable instructions executed by the third processor of the recipient device controls the third processor to delete the set of fields from the storage of the recipient device.
16 . The program instructions tangibly embodied in the non-transitory storage medium of claim 15 , wherein the time restriction comprises a date and time.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to contact lists and more particularly to a system for providing unambiguous contact information. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Nowadays, almost everybody has a smartphone. Many use their smartphone for messaging, email, taking pictures, etc., but in reality, the birth of the smartphone came from early cellular phones that provided only voice communications. Each smartphone has a unique phone number; unique world-wide when the country code is included. As people often find it easier to remember a person's or an establishment's name as opposed to a ten-digit phone number, phone directories came about just as in the past, phone books and rotary phone indexes were used for landline phones. The concept was initially simple—an entry (e.g. card or record) was indexed by the person's or establishment's name and contained an address (physical address) and phone number of the person or establishment. As smartphones became popular, similar systems were created through software on the smartphones. Such “phonebooks” are used mostly to store records containing phone numbers of people and establishments that are commonly called. These phonebooks are typically indexed by the person's or establishment's name or alias such as “mom,” “dad,” “Joe's Pizzeria,” etc. This made using smartphones much easier as both voice calling and messaging is now directed, for example, to “mom.” As capabilities and storage of smartphones increased, more information has been stored in each user's phonebook, including addresses, birthdates, anniversaries, personal information, work/office information, vehicle identification numbers, etc. Everybody who has a smartphone has a phone book, but in general, prior phonebook entries were generally entered manually (at least initially) or through various automated schemes such as scanning of business cards using the smartphone's camera or electronic transfer from one phone to another phone using virtual business cards (e.g. VCF). In such, when a new smartphone is purchased, the phonebook must be transferred from the old smartphone to the new smartphone as storage for the phonebook records was within the memory of the user's smartphone. Phonebook records that were created manually often lacked data accuracy as they depend upon whoever enters the data; usually using the smartphone's on-screen keyboard and limit display size. This often leads to errors, duplicate entries, etc. Further, certain complexities are often overlooked by users such as multiple phone number entries for home, office, cell, etc., making difficult to determine which number to call at a later time. Updating locally stored phonebook records is also a tenuous ordeal. When one of your contacts change their phone number, email address, name (e.g. after marriage), address, etc., or adds new information, that person usually sends out a message to everybody in their phonebook requesting that everybody make updates. This is not an easy task since there are many records in one's phonebook that are one-way (e.g. calls are only made to a restaurant, not from the restaurant), many records are not up-to-date (e.g. the phone number is wrong), and some records one does not want to send requests for updates (e.g. ex-girlfriend or ex-boyfriend). If the contact information in your phonebook is outdated, you cannot inform that person of your new contact information and will likely lose touch with that person. Personal phonebook records become the property of the smartphone owner, in that, once created, it is up to the smartphone owner to guard the information, update the information, and maintain the information. Further, there is no way to limit the life of the information in any way except to ask the other smartphone owner to delete your information. In addition, smartphone records are flat. If you give someone your business card or VCF, that person gets all of the information on your business card or VCF. For paper business cards, if you do not want that person to have your cellular number, you have to blackout that part of the business card, but once provide to the person, there is no taking it back. What is needed is a system that will provide a ubiquitous and unique management of contact records across multiple platforms. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A system for providing management of contact records includes a single record per user that is primarily indexed by the owner's phone number. The contact records are network accessed through any of various cellular and data networks by various devices and cached locally on such devices by way of permission from the owner of each record. In this way, the owner of each record has the ability to deny access to some or all of the information stored in the contact record at any time. As changes are made to a contact record, all others that have access to that contact record receive updated information. Duplicates are eliminated as no two individuals or establishments s