KR100775567B1 - Method and apparatus for address management service - Google Patents

Abstract

A method for providing an address list management service and an apparatus therefor are provided to allow the user to transfer easily address list information of some acquaintances to other acquaintances and establish easily an acquaintance network. When a service server receives address list data from a mobile terminal of the first user, it extracts identification information of the second user to check whether the second user is an acquaintance or not from the address list data(S100). That is, the second user is identified from the address list data received from the mobile terminal of the first user. Address list data stored in the service server is searched based on the identification information(S101). It is checked whether the first user and the second user are acquaintances(S102). When the first and second users are acquaintances, information indicating the acquaintance relation is added to the address list data of the first and second users(S103).

Description

Address book management service method and apparatus therefor {Method and Apparatus for address management service}

1A is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of an entire system required to perform an address book management service according to the present invention;

1B is a block diagram showing the configuration of a service server constituting the system;

2 is a block flow diagram illustrating a process of setting up an acquaintance by uploading address book data to a service server according to an embodiment of the present invention in order to perform the address book management service method according to the present invention;

3 is a block flow diagram illustrating a process of adding a new contact to address book data stored in a service server according to another embodiment of the present invention;

4 is a block diagram illustrating a process of deleting an existing contact in address book data uploaded to a service server according to another embodiment of the present invention.

5 is a block diagram illustrating a process of changing user information in address book data uploaded to a service server according to another embodiment of the present invention.

The present invention relates to an address book management service method and apparatus for a mobile communication terminal user to easily and effectively manage address book data stored in the mobile communication terminal.

In order for the user of the calling mobile communication terminal to make a voice call with the user of the called mobile communication terminal, a call connection request must be made by inputting a call number of the called mobile communication terminal on the calling mobile communication terminal. However, since a call number of a general mobile communication terminal is composed of 9 or 10 digits, there is a problem that it is difficult to input a call number every voice call. In order to solve such a problem, a method of allowing a mobile communication terminal to manage address book data by itself and requesting a call connection request by calling call number information of a corresponding party when necessary is proposed.

However, in order to manage the acquaintance address information in the mobile communication terminal, the user must input all the information by hand. Therefore, the process of creating an address book for inputting an e-mail address or other acquaintance's personal information is very cumbersome, and the personal information of the acquaintance is changed. If, for example, the address or telephone number of an acquaintance is changed, the acquaintance cannot provide the revised information unless the acquaintance knows all the changed personal information of the acquaintance. The user needs a very inconvenient and cumbersome address book management process, such as manually modifying the personal information of the changed acquaintance.

Therefore, the contacts of the address book had the problem of not only contacting all the acquaintances who know their own address every time, as well as not knowing that the address was changed and not contacted when really needed.

In addition, the conventional address book management program, because the user's own personal information or the address book information of acquaintances that he knows could not be transmitted to other acquaintances, the utilization of the information was lowered and the pyramid of acquaintance information could not be formed. Because they could not download the address book through mobile terminals such as mobile phones or PDAs, they could not actively respond to the mobile environment, and because they could only know the contacts of their close acquaintances, they could not contact the acquaintances of the acquaintances or acquaintances of the acquaintances. There was a problem.

The first object of the present invention for solving the above problems, even if the user of the mobile communication terminal changes the personal information of acquaintances associated with it does not need to register it manually by hand, and automatically notify or notify the changed information The present invention provides an address book management service method and an apparatus therefor.

In addition, the second object of the present invention can easily transfer the address book information of acquaintances to other acquaintances, can easily configure the acquaintance network, and actively download the address book through a mobile terminal such as a mobile phone or PDA An object of the present invention is to provide an address book management service method and an apparatus therefor.

In order to achieve the object of the present invention as described above, the address book management service method of the present invention,

Extracting identification information about the second user from address book data of the first user;

A second step of retrieving address book data of a second user based on the identification information of the second user;

A third step of checking whether the first user is registered in the address book data of the second user; And,

If the first user is registered in the address book of the second user as a result of the checking of the third step, a fourth step of setting the first user and the second user in an acquaintance relationship is configured.

In order to achieve the object of the present invention as described above, the address book management service server of the present invention,

An address book database for storing address book data provided from a plurality of mobile communication terminals;

An interface unit communicating with a plurality of mobile communication terminals to perform a process required for uploading or downloading address book data and receiving a data processing request from the mobile communication terminal;

By searching and comparing the information contained in the address book data provided from the mobile communication terminal with the address book data stored in the service server, the mobile communication terminals having registered contacts of the other party in the address book data are searched. An acquaintance setting unit for setting an acquaintance; And,

It includes an address book management unit for accessing the address book database to record, verify, correct, and delete information.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, in describing in detail the operating principle of the preferred embodiment of the present invention, if it is determined that the detailed description of the related known functions or configurations may unnecessarily obscure the subject matter of the present invention, the detailed description thereof will be omitted. The same reference numerals are used for parts having similar functions and functions throughout the drawings.

Throughout the specification, when a part is "connected" to another part, this includes not only "directly connected" but also "electrically connected" with another element in between. . In addition, when a part is said to "include" a certain component, which means that it may further include other components, except to exclude other components unless otherwise stated.

In addition, the term module described herein refers to a unit for processing a specific function or operation, which may be implemented in hardware or software, or a combination of hardware and software.

Figure 1a is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of the entire system required to perform the address book management service according to the present invention, Figure 1b is a block diagram showing the configuration of a service server constituting the system.

Referring to FIG. 1A, the system receives a plurality of mobile communication terminals 201 to 205 storing address book data in their own storage means and address book data stored in the mobile communication terminals 201 to 205, respectively. It is composed of a service server 100 for establishing a relationship, automatically notifying all or part of contact information changed between acquaintances and providing information on acquaintances.

In addition, referring to FIG. 1B, the service server 100 may include an interface unit 110; Authentication unit 120; Acquaintance relationship setting unit 130; Address book manager 140; And an address book database 150 including a user information database 151, a counterpart information database 152, and an acquaintance relation database 153.

The plurality of mobile communication terminals 201 to 205 are small and lightweight wireless communication devices such as a mobile phone, a PDA, etc. that can be carried by an individual anytime and anywhere, and transmit and receive data and voice signals through a mobile communication network or a wireless Internet network. Displaying transmission / receiving means, control means for controlling the entire operation according to a programmed control procedure, user interface means for providing an interface with a user, and operation state-specific screens and guidance screens under the control of the control means. The display means may be provided, and a browser or an application for a specific purpose may be provided. In the present invention, the plurality of mobile communication terminals 201 to 205 store address book data in separate storage means.

In a preferred embodiment applicable to the present invention, the address book data is user information, which is contact information for a user of a mobile communication terminal, and counterpart information, which is contact information for a counterpart to which the user wants to contact through the mobile communication terminal. It may include. In this case, the contact information includes a name and a calling number of the mobile communication terminal, and includes a contact number, a home address, a company address, an affiliation, a position, a home phone number, a company telephone number, a relationship with a user, a date of birth, a place of birth, and a job. It may further include one or more additional information selected from the major, family status, personality, characteristics, email address.

The service server 100 is a web server separately existing outside the plurality of mobile communication terminals 201 to 205, and receives address book data stored in each of the mobile communication terminals 201 to 205. Comparing and searching the information contained in the address book data and the address book data of the plurality of mobile communication terminals (201 ~ 205) stored in the service server 100, the mobile communication terminals registered the contacts of each other in the address book data After the search, they are set up as acquaintances.

In addition, if the service server 100 requests to add, correct or delete address book data of a specific mobile communication terminal, the service server 100 performs a corresponding task based on the set acquaintance relationship, and when the user information is changed, an acquaintance relationship with the user is established. It automatically notifies all or some of the established users of the changed contact information, and provides information on their friendship. At this time, if necessary, the service server may provide to download the address book data for the mobile communication terminal stored in the mobile communication terminal.

The interface unit 110 of the service server 100 communicates with the plurality of mobile communication terminals 201 to 205 to perform a process required for uploading or downloading address book data, and from the mobile communication terminals 201 to 205. Accept the data processing request. In this case, the interface unit 110 requests to upload address book data stored in the mobile communication terminals 201 to 205 periodically or every time data is changed or communicates with a separate application installed in the mobile communication terminal to communicate with the corresponding address book. The data may be periodically uploaded to the service server 100.

In addition, address book data of the mobile communication terminal stored in the service server 100 may be provided to the mobile communication terminal in the form of a direct push message.

The authenticator 120 of the service server 100 confirms whether the user of the mobile communication terminal is a legitimate subscriber of the service according to the present invention. According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, in accordance with the authentication result performed by the authentication unit 120, a service that can be provided through the service server 100, for example, establishing an acquaintance through registration of address book data, new You can limit some or all of the tasks, such as adding contact information, modifying or deleting existing contact information.

The acquaintance setting unit 130 of the service server 100 includes information included in address book data provided from the mobile communication terminal and a plurality of mobile communication terminals 201 to 205 stored in the service server 100. Compare and search address book data, search for mobile communication terminals in which contacts of the other party are registered in the address book data, and then establish an acquaintance relationship between them. The information thus set is stored in the acquaintance relation database 153 of the address book database 150 through the address book manager 140.

In this case, the acquaintance setting unit 130 may generate acquaintance map information in which each of a plurality of mobile communication terminal users is a node, and an acquaintance relationship between them is a link. Service server 100 according to a preferred embodiment applicable to the present invention by using the acquaintance map information, the acquaintance of the user, acquaintances of the acquaintance of the user who satisfies certain personal information requirements according to the request of a specific user It is also possible to check through multiple steps, such as acquaintances of the acquaintance or acquaintances of the acquaintance, or to grasp the relationship between the specific user and the acquaintance who have been searched for the entire user.

The address book manager 140 of the service server 100 accesses the address book database to record, verify, correct, and delete information. Basically, when the address book data of the mobile communication terminal is transmitted through the interface unit 110, contact information corresponding to user information is collected from the address book data and stored in the user information database 151, and corresponding information of the counterpart is obtained. Collects contact information and stores the contact information in the partner information database (152). In addition, when the user information of a specific user is changed, the address book manager 140 may automatically notify the changed contact information to all or part of the user who has established an acquaintance with the user.

The address book database 150 of the service server 100 includes a user information database 151, a counterpart information database 152, and an acquaintance relation database 153. The user information database 151 stores contact information about a user of the mobile communication terminal in which the address book data is stored, for example, one or more selected from a name of the user or a call number of the mobile communication terminal. The counterpart information database 152 includes contact information of the counterpart stored by the user of the corresponding mobile communication terminal separately in the mobile communication terminal. The contact information, home address, company address, One or more additional information selected from affiliation, position, home phone number, company phone number, relationship with first user, date of birth, place of birth, occupation, major, family situation, personality, characteristics, and e-mail address is stored. The acquaintance relation database 153 stores information on acquaintance relations and acquaintance relation maps between the user and the counterpart set by the acquaintance relation setting unit 130.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a process of setting up contacts by uploading address book data to a service server according to an embodiment of the present invention in order to perform the address book management service method according to the present invention. .

Referring to FIG. 2, first, when a service server according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention receives address book data from a corresponding mobile communication terminal, identification information on a counterpart to check whether a friend relationship exists from the address book data is extracted (S100). . Hereinafter, a user of the mobile communication terminal to be provided with the address book management service method according to the present invention is referred to as a 'first user' and is registered in the address book data stored in the mobile communication terminal of the first user. As a user of, a user who is a target for checking whether there is an acquaintance with the first user is referred to as a 'second user'. Step S100 is a process of collecting information for identifying the second user from address book data provided from the mobile communication terminal of the first user.

In an embodiment applicable to the present invention, the address book data may include user information including counterpart information for the first user and counterpart information including counterpart information for the second user. In this case, the counterpart information includes not only the essential information including the name of the second user and the calling number of the mobile communication terminal, but also a home address, a company address, affiliation, rank, a home telephone number, a company telephone number, and a first user. The relationship, date of birth, place of birth, occupation, major, family status, personality, characteristics, e-mail address may include any one or more of the additional information.

In this case, the identification information extracted in step S100 among the address book data may include the name of the second user or the second user that constitutes user information of the address book data of the second user stored in the service server, among the counterpart information of the address book data. It is preferably a mobile communication terminal call number.

Next, the address lock data stored in the service server is searched based on the identification information (S101). This is a step of searching whether the address book data of the second user exists in the service server based on the identification information. To this end, it is preferable to compare the identification information extracted in step S100 with user information of other address book data stored in the service server.

If the address book data of the second user is searched through the step S101, it is determined whether the first user and the second user are acquaintances (S102). In the present invention, an acquaintance relationship means a case in which contact information of each other is stored in address book data of two users. Therefore, it is preferable to perform the process of checking whether the first user is registered as a contact in the counterpart information among the searched address book data of the second user for step S102.

When it is determined through the step S102 that the first user and the second user have an acquaintance relationship, information indicating an acquaintance relationship is added to address book data of the first user and the second user. Such information may be added to be related to corresponding counterpart information in address book data.

3 is a block diagram illustrating a process of adding a new contact to address book data stored in a service server according to another embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 3, first, the service server receives a request for adding a contact for a new counterpart from a mobile communication terminal of a first user (S200). The request for adding a new contact may include contact information for a user of a mobile communication terminal (hereinafter referred to as a 'third user') that is not registered in address book data of a first user stored in the service server. It's asking you to add it to your address book data.

In an embodiment applicable to the present invention, the contact information for the third user is not only essential information including the name of the third user and the calling number of the mobile communication terminal, but also a home address, a company address, affiliation, and rank. It may include one or more additional information selected from a home phone number, a company phone number, a relationship with a first user, a date of birth, a place of birth, a job, a major, a family situation, a personality, a feature, and an e-mail address.

Next, the identification information of the other party to check whether the acquaintance relationship is extracted from the new contact information (S201). The step S201 is a process of collecting information for identifying a third user registered in the address book data of the first user. In a preferred embodiment applicable to the present invention, the identification information extracted in step S201 of the address book data for the third user is a user who can configure the user information of the third user from the counterpart information of the address book data. It is preferable that the name or call number of the mobile terminal.

Next, the address book data stored in the service server is searched based on the identification information (S202). This is a step of searching whether the address book data of the third user exists in the service server based on the identification information. To this end, it is preferable to compare the identification information collected in step S201 with user information of other address book data stored in the service server.

If the address book data of the third user is searched through the step S202, it is determined whether the first user and the third user are acquaintances (S203). In the present invention, the acquaintance relationship means a case where the contact information of the other party is stored in the data of two users. Therefore, it is preferable to perform the process of checking whether the first user is registered as a contact in the counterpart information among the searched third-party address book data for step S203.

When it is determined in step S203 that the first user and the third user have an acquaintance relationship, information indicating an acquaintance relationship is added to address book data of the first user and the third user. Such information is preferably added to corresponding counterpart information in address book data.

4 is a block diagram illustrating a process of deleting an existing contact in address book data uploaded to a service server according to another embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 4, first, a deletion request for some of existing address book data stored in the service server is received from a mobile communication terminal (S300). The request for deleting an existing contact is a contact for a user of a mobile communication terminal (hereinafter referred to as a 'fourth user') registered in address book data of a first user stored in the service server from a mobile communication terminal of a first user. It is asking you to delete the information.

Next, it is checked whether the fourth user, who is the target of the deletion, is registered in an acquaintance relationship with the first user (S301). As a result of the check, when the fourth user to be deleted is set in an acquaintance relationship with the first user, the information indicating that the fourth user is acquaintance is deleted from the address book data of the first user (S302).

Next, contact information corresponding to the fourth user is deleted from the address book data of the first user (S303). The deleting of the contact information of the fourth user corresponding to operation S303 may be performed by deleting all fields corresponding to the fourth user from counterpart information included in the address book data of the first user.

5 is a block diagram illustrating a process of changing user information in address book data uploaded to a service server according to another embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 5, first, a service server according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention receives a request for modifying contact information for a user of a corresponding mobile communication terminal from a mobile communication terminal (S400).

Upon receiving the user information modification request, the service server modifies user information on the first user stored in the service server according to the request (S401).

Next, based on the address book data of the first user, information about a user who is established as an acquaintance with the first user is collected (S402), and then all or a part of the acquaintances of the first user are collected. Notify that the user information has been changed (S403). In this case, the changed user information may be provided together with the notification.

In this case, in addition to the step S403, the counterpart information of the first user may be directly modified in address book data of a user who is acquainted with the first user (S404).

The present invention described above is not limited to the above-described embodiments and the accompanying drawings, and it is common in the art that various substitutions, modifications, and changes can be made without departing from the technical spirit of the present invention. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

According to the present invention, even if the user's personal information of an acquaintance associated with the mobile device is changed, there is no need to register it manually, and the changed information can be automatically notified or notified. In addition, according to the present invention, it is possible to easily transfer the address book information of acquaintances to other acquaintances, to easily configure the acquaintance network, and to actively respond to the mobile environment by downloading the address book through a mobile terminal such as a mobile phone or a PDA .

Claims (19)

Extracting identification information about the second user from address book data of the first user; A second step of retrieving address book data of a second user based on the identification information of the second user; A third step of checking whether the first user is registered in the address book data of the second user; And, And a fourth step of setting the first user and the second user in an acquaintance relationship when the first user is registered in the address book of the second user as a result of the checking of the third step. The method of claim 1, And the address book data comprises user information including contact information of the first user and counterpart information including contact information of the second user. The method of claim 1, The second step is performed by comparing the identification information extracted in the first step with the user information of the other address book data stored in the service server. The method of claim 1, And wherein the fourth step is performed by adding information indicating an acquaintance relationship to address book data of the first user and the second user. The method of claim 1, A fifth step of receiving a request for adding contact information for a third user to address book data of the first user; Extracting identification information about the third user; A seventh step of retrieving address book data of a third user based on the identification information of the third user; An eighth step of checking whether the first user is registered in the address book data of the third user; And, And a ninth step of setting the first user and the third user in an acquaintance relationship when the first user is registered in the address book of the third user as a result of the checking of the eighth step. The method of claim 1, A tenth step of receiving a deletion request for contact information of a fourth user stored in address book data of the first user; An eleventh step of checking whether the fourth user is registered in an acquaintance relationship with the first user; A twelfth step of deleting, from the address book data of the first user, information indicating that the fourth user is in an acquaintance relationship when the fourth user is established as an acquaintance with the first user as a result of the confirmation in the eleventh step; And, And a thirteenth step of deleting contact information corresponding to the fourth user from the address book data of the first user. The method of claim 1, Receiving a request for modifying contact information for the first user to modify user information for the first user; A fifteenth step of collecting information about a user who is established in acquaintance with the first user based on the address book data of the first user; And, And a sixteenth step of notifying that the user information of the first user has been changed to all or a part of the mobile communication terminals of the users identified as having an acquaintance relationship by the fifteenth step. The method according to any one of claims 2 and 5 to 7, The contact information includes not only essential information including the name of the user and the calling number of the mobile communication terminal, but also a home address, company address, affiliation, position, home phone number, company phone number, relationship with the first user, date of birth. Address book management service method comprising at least one additional information selected from the place of birth, occupation, major, family status, personality, features, email address. The method according to claim 1 or 5, And the identification information is a name of a corresponding user capable of constituting user information from address book data of the counterpart user or a call number of a mobile communication terminal of the corresponding user. The method of claim 7, wherein And the notification in step 16 provides changed user information together. The method of claim 7, wherein And a seventeenth step of directly modifying the information of the first user in the address book data of the user with whom the acquaintance is related. An address book database for storing address book data provided from a plurality of mobile communication terminals; An interface unit communicating with a plurality of mobile communication terminals to perform a process required for uploading or downloading address book data and receiving a data processing request from the mobile communication terminal; By searching and comparing the information contained in the address book data provided from the mobile communication terminal with the address book data stored in the service server, the mobile communication terminals that have registered the contacts of the other party in the address book data are searched and then contacted. Acquaintance relationship setting unit for setting a relationship; And, An address book management service server including an address book manager that accesses an address book database to record, verify, correct, and delete information. The method of claim 12, Address book management service server, characterized in that it further comprises an authentication unit for checking whether the user of the mobile terminal is a legitimate subscriber. The method of claim 12, The address book data includes user information which is contact information of a user of a mobile communication terminal, and other party information which is contact information of a counterpart room to which the user wants to contact through the mobile communication terminal. server. The method of claim 13, The contact information may include the name of the user; A call number for the mobile communication terminal of the user; And at least one selected from among contact information, home address, company address, affiliation, job title, home phone number, company phone number, relationship with user, date of birth, place of birth, occupation, major, family status, personality, characteristics, and email address. Address information management service server, comprising: additional information. The method of claim 12, And the interface unit periodically receives address book data stored in a mobile communication terminal. The method of claim 12, And the acquaintance relation setting unit generates acquaintance relation map information in which each of a plurality of mobile communication terminal users is a node and an acquaintance relation between them is a link. The method of claim 12, When the user information of a specific user is changed, the address book management unit automatically notifies the changed contact information to another user who has established an acquaintance with the user. The method of claim 12, The address book database, A user information database for storing contact information about a user of the mobile communication terminal in which the address book data is stored;  As the contact information of the other party stored in the mobile terminal by the user of the mobile communication terminal, as well as the name of the other party and the call number of the mobile communication terminal, as well as the contact information, home address, company address, affiliation, rank, home phone number, A counterpart information database storing one or more additional information selected from a company telephone number, a relationship with a first user, a date of birth, a place of birth, a job, a major, a family situation, a personality, a feature, and an e-mail address; And, Address book management service server including an acquaintance relation database that stores the acquaintance relation between the user and the other party set by the acquaintance setting unit.

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