Techniques to manage contact records

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10194010-B1
Application number	US-201715720994-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Sep 29, 2017
Priority date	Sep 29, 2017
Publication date	Jan 29, 2019
Grant date	Jan 29, 2019

Abstract

Exemplary embodiments relate to techniques for managing contact information received in the context of a messaging system. Messages may be received from known contacts which contain user contact records for third parties. Based on the trust relationship with the known contacts, the user contact record is placed in a contact record repository for later retrieval. When another message is received which either references the user contact record or is from the third party referenced in the user contact record, a dialog box is presented offering the user the opportunity to add the user contact record as an address entry in the address book of the device.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. At least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions that, when executed, cause a system to:
receive a user contact record in a messaging thread at a client device from a sending user, the user contact record associated with a user other than the sending user;
determine that the user contact record is authenticated for storage in a contact record repository on the client device, the authentication being based on the identity of the sending user;
based on the determination that the user contact record is authenticated, store the user contact record in the contact record repository on the client device;
receive an incoming messaging initiation at the client device from an initiating user account;
search the contact record repository for a user contact record containing information matching identifying information of the initiating user account;
extract contact information from the matching user contact record;
display an incoming messaging initiation dialog on the client device, the incoming messaging initiation dialog comprising information from the matching user contact record and a contact add control;
receive a user selection of the contact add control; and
add information from the matching contact record as an entry in an address book on the client device, the address book being separate from the contact record repository.

2. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1
wherein the user contact record is authenticated for storage in the contact record repository based on the sending user being a participant in the message thread.

3. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1 ,
wherein the user contact record is authenticated for storage in the contact record repository based on the sending user matching an address book entry in an address book for the client device.

4. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1 , comprising further instructions that, when executed, cause a system to:
match the initiating user account to a plurality of user contact records in the contact record repository, the plurality of user contact records comprising the user contact record;
display information from the plurality of user contact records in the incoming messaging initiation dialog;
display messaging context for the plurality of user contact records in the incoming messaging initiation dialog;
receive a record contact selection for the incoming messaging initiation dialog, the record contact selection corresponding to a selected user contact record of the plurality of user contact records; and
add an address book entry for the selected user contact record to an address book for the client device in response to receiving the record contact selection.

5. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1 , the incoming messaging initiation comprising an incoming phone number, the user contact record comprising a user contact phone number, comprising further instructions that, when executed, cause a system to:
match the initiating user account to the user contact record by matching the incoming phone number to the user contact phone number.

6. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1 , comprising further instructions that, when executed, cause a system to:
determine that the initiating user account does not match any existing address book entry in an address book for the client device; and
match the initiating user account to the user contact record in the contact record repository in response to determining that the initiating user account does not match any existing address book entry in the address book for the client device.

7. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1 , comprising further instructions that, when executed, cause a system to:
receive the user contact record in association with a message thread, the incoming messaging initiation dialog comprising messaging context for receiving the user contact record in association with the message thread.

8. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1 , comprising further instructions that, when executed, cause a system to:
select the incoming messaging initiation dialog for display on the client device in place of a spam reporting dialog based on matching the initiating user account to the user contact record in the contact record repository.

9. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1 , the user contact record received as an ephemeral user contact record, wherein the incoming messaging initiation is received prior to an extinction time for the ephemeral user contact record.

10. An apparatus, comprising:
a messaging component operative to receive a user contact record in a messaging thread at a client device from a sending user, the user contact record associated with a user other than the sending user; and receive an incoming messaging initiation at the client device from an initiating user account;
a contact management component operative to:
determine that the user contact record is authenticated for storage in a contact record repository on the client device, the authentication being based on the identity of the sending user;
based on the determination that the user contact record is authenticated, store the user contact record in a contact record repository on the client device;
match the initiating user account to a user contact record in the contact record repository; and extract contact information from the user contact record;
receive a user selection of a contact add control; and
add information from the matching contact record as an entry in an address book on the client device, the address book being separate from the contact record repository; and

a user interface component operative to display an incoming messaging initiation dialog on the client device, the incoming messaging initiation dialog comprising the contact information and the contact add control.

11. The apparatus of claim 10
wherein the user contact record is authenticated for storage in the contact record repository based on the sending user being a participant in the message thread.

12. The apparatus of claim 10
wherein the user contact record is authenticated for storage in the contact record repository based on the sending user matching an address entry in an address book for the client device.

13. The apparatus of claim 10 , further comprising:
the contact management component operative to match the initiating user account to a plurality of user contact records in the contact record repository, the plurality of user contact records comprising the user contact record; and add an address book entry for a selected user contact record to an address book for the client device in response to receiving a record contact selection; and
the user interface component operative to display record contact information from the plurality of user contact records in the incoming messaging initiation dialog; display messaging context for the plurality of user contact records in the incoming messaging initiation dialog; and receive the record contact selection for the incoming messaging initiation dialog, the record contact selection corresponding to the selected user contact record of the plurality of user contact records.

14. The apparatus of claim 10 , the incoming messaging initiation comprising an incoming phone number, the user contact record comprising a user contact phone number, further comprising:
the contact management component operative to match the initiating user acco

Assignees

• Whatsapp Inc

Inventors

• Donohue Michael B
• Chen Clark
• Liu Alan

Classifications

• H04L51/046 Primary

  Interoperability with other network applications or services · CPC title

• H04M1/27457 Primary

  Management thereof, e.g. manual editing of data · CPC title

• H04M1/2757

  by data transmission, e.g. downloading · CPC title

• H04M1/274533 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04L51/12

  Electricity · mapped topic