Presenting entity profile information to a user of a computing device

Abstract

Entity profile information is presented to a user of a computing device. In one embodiment, a method includes: receiving a communication associated with a first entity; in response to receiving the communication, creating or updating, by at least one processor, a first entity profile, wherein the first entity profile is for display to the user on the computing device; and storing a plurality of entity profiles for entities, the entity profiles including the first entity profile.

Description

FIELD OF THE TECHNOLOGY

At least some embodiments disclosed herein relate to data and information processing systems in general, and more particularly, but not limited to, creation and/or presentation of entity profile information to a user of a computing device.

BACKGROUND

Electronic communications for both business and personal use have increased substantially in recent years. In addition to the number of communications increasing, the number of available communication mediums has also increased. In addition to email communications and telephone communications, additional forms of communication have become common in recent years, including instant messaging, social network messaging and commenting, message board posting, text messaging, and Voice Over Internet Protocol communications.

Many of these electronic communications are sent from businesses to individuals. For example, a tracking number for a package being shipped by AMAZON.COM to a purchaser may be provided to the purchaser via an email, or a flight number and other information for an upcoming flight reserved by a customer on an AMERICAN AIRLINES website is sent to the customer by email.

Increasingly, businesses are sending a large number of emails to a customer or user, such as from various, different divisions of the business (e.g., shipping and customer service). Each of these emails is often sent by the business using different email addresses. For example, FACEBOOK often uses automatically-generated email addresses for each email message it sends to a user.

SUMMARY OF THE DESCRIPTION

Systems and methods for presentation (e.g., via a display) of entity profile information (e.g., information regarding a company, association, or other entity that is not an individual person) to a user of a computing device (e.g., a mobile device or tablet computer) are described herein. Some embodiments are summarized in this section.

In one embodiment, a method includes: receiving a communication associated with a first entity; in response to receiving the communication, creating or updating, by at least one processor, a first entity profile, wherein the first entity profile is for display to a user on a computing device of the user; and storing a plurality of entity profiles for entities, the entity profiles including the first entity profile. In various embodiments, the computing device may be a mobile device (e.g., an IPHONE or ANDROID device), a desktop computer, a laptop computer, or a tablet computer (e.g., an IPAD computing device).

In another embodiment, a method includes: receiving a first communication associated with a first entity; in response to receiving the first communication, creating, by a computing device of a user, a first entity profile; and presenting, on a display of the computing device, the first entity profile to the user.

The disclosure includes methods and apparatuses which perform these methods, including data processing systems which perform these methods, and computer readable media containing instructions which when executed on data processing systems cause the systems to perform these methods.

Other features will be apparent from the accompanying drawings and from the detailed description which follows.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The embodiments are illustrated by way of example and not limitation in the figures of the accompanying drawings in which like references indicate similar elements.

FIG. 1 shows a user interface presented on a display that includes an email received by the user and an entity profile sidebar, according to one embodiment.

FIG. 2 shows a user screen that presents to a user those email addresses that have been associated with the entity corresponding to the entity profile of FIG. 1, according to one embodiment.

FIG. 3 shows a user input field in which a user has provided a partial input for search, and for which a list of matching contacts, including the entity profile, are displayed to the user, according to one embodiment.

FIG. 4 shows the augmentation of an entity profile (e.g., an entity contact) with additional information associated with the entity that may be helpful for the user in performing a task such as creating or initiating a new communication (e.g., a phone call to a reservation department), according to one embodiment.

FIG. 5 shows a system for presentation of entity profile information to a user of a computing device, according to one embodiment.

FIG. 6 shows a block diagram of a data processing system which can be used in various embodiments.

FIG. 7 shows a block diagram of a user device according to one embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following description and drawings are illustrative and are not to be construed as limiting. Numerous specific details are described to provide a thorough understanding. However, in certain instances, well known or conventional details are not described in order to avoid obscuring the description. References to one or an embodiment in the present disclosure are not necessarily references to the same embodiment; and, such references mean at least one.

Reference in this specification to “one embodiment” or “an embodiment” means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the disclosure. The appearances of the phrase “in one embodiment” in various places in the specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment, nor are separate or alternative embodiments mutually exclusive of other embodiments. Moreover, various features are described which may be exhibited by some embodiments and not by others. Similarly, various requirements are described which may be requirements for some embodiments but not other embodiments.

In one embodiment, an electronic communication is received from an entity by a user of a mobile device, and in response to receiving the communication, an entity profile is created for the entity (e.g., this may be a first communication from the entity, and receipt of this communication is the trigger for creation of the entity profile). The entity profile may be stored, for example, on the mobile device and/or on a server or other computer with which the mobile device or user is associated, or with which the mobile device otherwise communicates.

In another embodiment, the entity profile is presented to the user as a sidebar, window, screen, or other form of visual presentation on a display of a mobile device. The sidebar may include a list of communication addresses (e.g., email addresses, text message addresses, or voice communication phone numbers) associated with the entity being profiled—this list may be displayed to the user in the sidebar. The sidebar may be presented within a user interface for an application (e.g., an email client interface) or may be presented separately.

In one embodiment, some of the information included in the entity profile and/or presented in the sidebar or other form of visual presentation is information that is extracted from the first, triggering communication from the entity and/or is extracted from subsequent communication(s) from the entity. For example, a tracking number sent in an email to a user from AMAZON.COM is presented in the sidebar as part of an entity profile for the entity AMAZON.COM.

In other embodiments, prior emails sent to the user from an entity are presented in the sidebar. These emails may be organized into various groups such as, for example, shipping, reservations, product information, company reports, etc.

In one embodiment, the communication addresses are associated with the entity being profiled (e.g., the associating may be performed by a server that is monitoring communications to or from the entity with other persons, such as other users of mobile devices that have received communications from the entity prior to the user receiving his or her first communication from the entity that triggers creation of the entity profile).

In one embodiment, the entity profile, along with other profiles, may be stored on a server associated with or otherwise accessible by a computing device (e.g., a mobile device) of a user. The server may store the data, for example, in a database in the form of entity profiles (e.g., these may be generic or default entity profiles awaiting downloading to and customization for a specific user having received a triggering email—other triggering events also may be used for prompting download or customization of the entity profile for the user).

Data collected for use in these entity profiles may be extracted from communications between the entity and the user of the mobile device (e.g., including the first communication that triggers creation of the entity profile). In another embodiment, communications sent by the user to the entity may provide some of the data for the entity profile. The data may be, for example, extracted by the server in the course of the transmission of the communications, the mobile device may send the data to the server, and/or other approaches may be used by the server to collect the data. Numerous examples of various types of data that may be collected in a database or otherwise for use in creating or updating entity profiles are described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/792,698 and other of the patent applications and patent publications incorporated by reference above. In other embodiments, the mobile device itself may store some or all of the data for the entity profiles.

In another embodiment, a plurality of profile entities are created prior to a user receiving a first, triggering communication from the entity. Once a triggering communication is received by the computing device of the user, then the preexisting entity profile is created on the user's computing device, or created on a server or other computer providing an account or other services for the user. After creation for the user as just described, the preexisting entity profile may be customized for the user using previously collected information for the user (e.g., person profiles created from prior emails to the user), or using newly-collected or generated information associated with the user (e.g., based on a search on an Internet engine using the user's name and the entity name as search terms).

In other embodiments, a second or subsequent communication from the entity may be the trigger for creation of the entity profile on the user device. For example, it may be required that a predetermined number of emails be received from the entity prior to a profile being created on the user's computing device. In another example, the communication may be required to contain certain information (e.g., a keyword or number), contain a specific type or category of information, or be related to someone in a social network of the user (e.g., the email is sent to another person that is in the user's social network) in order to trigger creation of the entity profile or customization of a preexisting, default entity profile for the user.

FIG. 1 shows a user interface 100 presented on a display of a mobile device (e.g., an ANDROID phone or IPHONE mobile device) of a user, according to one embodiment. The interface 100 presents a window or other portion of interface 100 that shows an email 104 received by the user. An entity profile sidebar 102 is displayed to the side of this window.

When the user receives email 104 from an entity 103 (e.g., a corporation named in the upper portion of sidebar 102), sidebar 102 shows information about the entity 103. Sidebar 102 may also appear at various other times when the user is accessing interface 100, such as when doing a search for the entity. This information may include, for example, the company logo 106 or other icon associated with the company, the company's TWITTER and FACEBOOK pages 110, phone number, address, product information, etc. This may further include information about the user's relationship with the company (e.g., all, or a portion of, emails that have passed back and forth between the user and the company, which emails are accessible by the user via an interface tab 108; also, other information that is personal to this particular user's relationship or interaction with the entity may be presented). This information may have been collected as previously described above.

FIG. 2 shows a user screen 200 presenting to a user in sidebar 102 a plurality of email addresses associated with entity 103, according to one embodiment. These addresses may be accessed by the user by clicking on tab 202 found on sidebar 102. These associated email addresses may have been determined by analysis of prior communications to and/or from entity 103, and/or determined by other approaches. These prior communications may have been between other users that are different than the user of the mobile device displaying sidebar 102 (e.g., these may be other users that, along with the user, are associated with server(s) implementing email communications or inbox services or software provided by Xobni Corporation located in San Francisco, Calif., and which server(s) collect entity data including email addresses from some or all users as communications are sent to or received from various entities).

These associated email addresses have been identified as belonging to entity 103 (i.e., FACEBOOK in this embodiment). Companies like FACEBOOK often use automatically-generated email addresses for each email message sent to users of FACEBOOK. A server(s) or other computer (e.g., a Xobni server, or a server for an address book/contact service provider) identifies these patterns, and associates each one of these email addresses with a corresponding entity. In prior approaches, when a user is searching for a specific email that came from a company, the user often has difficulty finding the email (e.g., the user does not know the email address that the sending company has used). When all of the email or other communication addresses from a company are grouped under an entity profile (e.g., using a human-understandable “FACEBOOK” tag as illustrated in FIG. 1), the user is more readily able to search for the email or communication.

FIG. 3 shows a user input field 302 of sidebar 102 in which the user has provided a partial input “facebo” in order to initiate a search of information on the mobile device and/or on a remote server (i.e., the user intends to search for FACEBOOK entity information), and for which a list of matching contacts 304, including the entity profile (i.e., profile for FACEBOOK), are displayed to the user, according to one embodiment. When the user searches for “facebo . . . ”, all of the people that the user knows at FACEBOOK (e.g., as represented by personal profiles stored on the user's mobile device), as well as the entity profile 306 for FACEBOOK itself are displayed. The prominence of the FACEBOOK logo assists the user to identify the search result that refers to FACEBOOK the company (as opposed to individual persons associated with FACEBOOK).

FIG. 4 shows the augmentation of an entity profile in sidebar 102 (e.g., an entity contact for AMERICAN AIRLINES) with additional information associated with the entity 402 that may be helpful for the user in performing a task such as creating or initiating a new communication (e.g., a phone call to a reservation department of AMERICAN AIRLINES), according to one embodiment. A social network page 404 of the entity is included in the entity profile and displayed as part of sidebar 102.

More specifically, the entity profile can be augmented with additional information that is useful to the user. In this embodiment, the user has only communicated with AMERICAN AIRLINES by email. However, these emails are identified and an entity profile is created specifically for this user (note that a preexisting entity profile for “AMERICAN AIRLINES” already exists and may be, for example, downloaded to the user's mobile device). The entity profile has a reservations phone number 406 inserted for AMERICAN AIRLINES. This makes it easier for the user to call AMERICAN AIRLINES if desired. In this embodiment, the entity profile is specifically installed, created, or customized for the user only in response to the user having a first, initial email conversation with AMERICAN AIRLINES. Once the entity profile is created for the user, the system may customize it by inserting other information not found in the user's email or other communications with AMERICAN AIRLINES.

In one embodiment, an entity profile is a preexisting profile or contact or data record, waiting for this user to receive an email from the specific entity corresponding to the preexisting profile. Once the user is observed to interact with that specific entity, the entity profile is created for the user's mobile device. The preexisting profile may include, for example, a company logo, a reservations phone number, a TWITTER identifier (ID), and other data that is added to the profile automatically.

In one embodiment, data may be added to the entity profile by automatically pulling the data from a social network (e.g., the LINKEDIN service) and/or from other Internet or network services (e.g., this data may be added after the entity profile is associated with the user or user's mobile device following receipt of a triggering email as discussed above). As mentioned above, the entity profile may be associated with a plurality of various, different email addresses that an entity uses to communicate with its customers or other persons. For example, a server, mobile device, and/or other computing devices may be used to find or identify the email address “notification+f_s6yt2y@facebook.com” and to determine that that it is not a FACEBOOK employee, but rather is an email address used by the company FACEBOOK (e.g., this may be based on sufficient usage with other users such as seeing repeated usage a predetermined number of times and/or by observing other patterns).

In order to determine that the email address “notification+f_s6yt2y@facebook.com” is not for an individual Facebook employee, but is instead an email or other communication of the company Facebook as an entity, an automated or manual process may be used. For example, for a manual process it may be observed that this type of address appears in other users' data (e.g., observed by a central server managing information associated with several other users in addition to the user receiving a first, triggering email). Regular expression rules may be written to identify/capture these email addresses and associate them with an entity profile.

In an alternative embodiment, a service is provided in which the entity defines one or more aspects of the entity profile that will be customized for the user (e.g., functions that may be initiated by and/or information provided in the entity profile). For example, AMERICAN AIRLINES may define that it desires any user receiving an email from AMERICAN AIRLINES as an entity (or a related or affiliated entity) have an entity profile that displays Advantage airline miles and upcoming flights, and/or that permits updating a flight status from a link in sidebar 102. In one embodiment, the entity may provide an application that is to be downloaded to the user's computing device in response to the triggering email. This application may be a part of or separate from the entity profile. As an example, the entity may provide an application to run in sidebar 102.

Various specific, non-limiting examples of the creation of entity profiles and/or the presentation of entity profile information to a user of a computing device are now discussed below.

In one example, an email client of a user displays an email from a company, such as LINKEDIN, FACEBOOK, or AMAZON.COM. The user may view the corresponding entity profile for the company sending the email in sidebar 102, which displays some or all of the emails that the user has received from the company. The email addresses for these emails have previously been identified and associated with the entity profile. The entity profile may display other information in addition to these emails that is relevant to the user's personal relationship (e.g., as determined by online interactions and/or other voice or data communications) with the entity. The emails may be grouped, for example, by shipping confirmations, purchase notifications, billing notifications, etc., when being displayed in sidebar 102.

In another example, a user has an entity profile for AMERICAN AIRLINES. The profile displays information about the user's relationship with the company. The profile is populated (either before or after being associated with the user) with information such as, for example, the phone number of the front desk or the reservations line, even if the user has never called that number herself. Other information that may be used to populate the entity profile may include information such as number keys to press in order to navigate the phone directory tree of the entity in order to reach a live person. In one example, the information added to the entity profile may be the entity's TWITTER profile (e.g., done using the entity's TWITTER ID).

FIG. 5 shows a system for presentation of entity profile information to a user of a computing device (e.g., profile information as illustrated in FIG. 1) in a user interface screen on a display of a computing device of the user (e.g., a mobile device 150 such as an IPHONE device), according to one embodiment. In FIG. 5, the user terminals (e.g., 141, 143, . . . , 145) and/or mobile devices including mobile device 150 are used to access a profile server 123 over a communication network 121. Although the foregoing description often uses a mobile device for purposes of illustration, the methods described herein may also be applied to user terminals and other forms of computing devices that interact with profile server 123.

The profile server 123 may include one or more web servers (or other types of data communication servers) to communicate with the user terminals (e.g., 141, 143, . . . , 145) and/or mobile devices. An entity server 160 is associated with an entity (e.g., AMERICAN AIRLINES or AMAZON.COM) and may provide an online service to mobile device 150 and other mobile devices. For example, entity server 160 may send communications (e.g., emails) to mobile device 150 and/or user terminal 141.

The profile server 123 and/or entity server 160 may each be connected to its own data storage facility to store user provided content, such as multimedia content, navigation data, preference data, etc. The profile server 123 may also store or have access to stored person profiles 154, created and updated as described herein. Person profiles may also be created and updated on mobile device 150 (and alternatively on both profile server 123 and mobile device 150, with some form of synchronization being used to keep the data synchronized).

Person profiles 154 (and/or person profiles 152) may be created and updated based on email or other communications to and from mobile device 150 and other mobile devices of various users (e.g., communications to or from entity server 160, or otherwise to or from an entity associated with entity server 160). In an alternative embodiment, person profiles 152 may be stored in a memory of mobile device 150. During operation, mobile device 150 may access and use person profiles obtained locally from mobile device 150 and/or obtained over communication network 121 from profile server 123. In one embodiment, profile server 123 sends one or more entity profiles to mobile device 150 or user terminal 141 for display to the user.

User data 164 (e.g., data regarding users that is stored at entity server 160 and used for providing an online or other service) may be accessed and used (e.g., by mobile device 150 and/or profile server 123) for relevancy rankings of entity profiles. In one embodiment, mobile device 150 or profile server 123 may access user data 164 or other data from entity server 160.

Although FIG. 5 illustrates an example system implemented in client server architecture, embodiments of the disclosure can be implemented in various alternative architectures. For example, the system can be implemented via a peer to peer network of user terminals, where content and data are shared via peer to peer communication connections.

In some embodiments, a combination of client server architecture and peer to peer architecture can be used, in which one or more centralized servers may be used to provide some of the information and/or services and the peer to peer network is used to provide other information and/or services. Thus, embodiments of the disclosure are not limited to a particular architecture.

FIG. 6 shows a block diagram of a data processing system which can be used in various embodiments (e.g., to implement profile server 123 or entity server 160). While FIG. 6 illustrates various components of a computer system, it is not intended to represent any particular architecture or manner of interconnecting the components. Other systems that have fewer or more components may also be used.

In FIG. 6, the system 201 includes an inter-connect 209 (e.g., bus and system core logic), which interconnects a microprocessor(s) 203 and memory 208. The microprocessor 203 is coupled to cache memory 204 in the example of FIG. 6.

The inter-connect 209 interconnects the microprocessor(s) 203 and the memory 208 together and also interconnects them to a display controller and display device 207 and to peripheral devices such as input/output (I/O) devices 205 through an input/output controller(s) 206. Typical I/O devices include mice, keyboards, modems, network interfaces, printers, scanners, video cameras and other devices which are well known in the art.

The inter-connect 209 may include one or more buses connected to one another through various bridges, controllers and/or adapters. In one embodiment the I/O controller 206 includes a USB (Universal Serial Bus) adapter for controlling USB peripherals, and/or an IEEE-1394 bus adapter for controlling IEEE-1394 peripherals.

The memory 208 may include ROM (Read Only Memory), and volatile RAM (Random Access Memory) and non-volatile memory, such as hard drive, flash memory, etc.

Volatile RAM is typically implemented as dynamic RAM (DRAM) which requires power continually in order to refresh or maintain the data in the memory. Non-volatile memory is typically a magnetic hard drive, a magnetic optical drive, or an optical drive (e.g., a DVD RAM), or other type of memory system which maintains data even after power is removed from the system. The non-volatile memory may also be a random access memory.

The non-volatile memory can be a local device coupled directly to the rest of the components in the data processing system. A non-volatile memory that is remote from the system, such as a network storage device coupled to the data processing system through a network interface such as a modem or Ethernet interface, can also be used. In one embodiment, a data processing system as illustrated in FIG. 6 is used to implement a server.

In one embodiment, a data processing system as illustrated in FIG. 6 is used to implement a user terminal. A user terminal may be in the form of a personal digital assistant (PDA), a cellular phone or other mobile device, a notebook computer or a personal desktop computer.

In some embodiments, one or more servers of the system can be replaced with the service of a peer to peer network of a plurality of data processing systems, or a network of distributed computing systems. The peer to peer network, or a distributed computing system, can be collectively viewed as a server data processing system.

Embodiments of the disclosure can be implemented via the microprocessor(s) 203 and/or the memory 208. For example, the functionalities described can be partially implemented via hardware logic in the microprocessor(s) 203 and partially using the instructions stored in the memory 208. Some embodiments are implemented using the microprocessor(s) 203 without additional instructions stored in the memory 208. Some embodiments are implemented using the instructions stored in the memory 208 for execution by one or more general purpose microprocessor(s) 203. Thus, the disclosure is not limited to a specific configuration of hardware and/or software.

FIG. 7 shows a block diagram of a user device (e.g., user terminal 141 or mobile device 150) according to one embodiment. In FIG. 7, the user device includes an inter-connect 221 connecting the presentation device 229, user input device 231, a processor 233, a memory 227, a position identification unit 225 and a communication device 223.

In FIG. 7, the position identification unit 225 is used to identify a geographic location for user content created for sharing. The position identification unit 225 may include a satellite positioning system receiver, such as a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver, to automatically identify the current position of the user device.

In FIG. 7, the communication device 223 is configured to communicate with a server. In one embodiment, the user input device 231 is configured to generate user data content. The user input device 231 may include a text input device, a still image camera, a video camera, and/or a sound recorder, etc.

Various further embodiments are now here described. In one embodiment, a method, comprises: receiving a communication associated with a first entity; in response to receiving the communication, creating or updating, by at least one processor, a first entity profile, wherein the first entity profile is for display to a user on a computing device of the user; and storing a plurality of entity profiles for entities, the entity profiles including the first entity profile.

In one embodiment, each of the entities is associated with communications received by the user of the computing device. In one embodiment, each of the entities associated with the communications received by the user is an entity selected from the group consisting of: an entity copied on one of the communications; an entity blind-copied on one of the communications; a sender of one of the communications; a recipient of one of the communications; and an entity referenced in the body, text, or other content of one of the communications. In one embodiment, the computing device is a mobile device, a desktop computer, a laptop, or a tablet.

In one embodiment, a server includes the at least one processor, and the method further comprises sending the first entity profile to the computing device for display. In one embodiment, the computing device includes the at least one processor, and the method further comprises presenting, using a display of the computing device, the first entity profile to the user.

In one embodiment, a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium stores computer-readable instructions, which when executed, cause a computing apparatus to: receive a first communication associated with a first entity; in response to receiving the first communication, create, by a computing device of a user, a first entity profile; and present, on a display of the computing device, the first entity profile to the user.

In one embodiment, the first entity profile comprises a list of communication addresses associated with the first entity, and the presenting comprises presenting the communication addresses to the user. In one embodiment, the instructions further cause the computing apparatus to receive information regarding an association of the list and the first entity from a computing device having associated the list with the first entity based on communications to or from the first entity with persons other than the user.

In one embodiment, the persons other than the user are mobile device users that have received communications from the first entity prior to the user having received the first communication. In one embodiment, the instructions further cause the computing apparatus to include information in the first entity profile that is extracted from the first communication and from subsequent communications to or from the first entity.

In one embodiment, the instructions further cause the computing apparatus to store a plurality of default entity profiles, and wherein the creating the first entity profile comprises customizing a first default entity profile of the plurality of default entity profiles, the first default entity profile corresponding to the first entity.

In one embodiment, a predetermined number of communications from the entity are required to be received by the computing device prior to the creating the first entity profile.

In one embodiment, a system includes: a display; at least one processor; and memory storing instructions configured to instruct the at least one processor to: receive a first communication associated with a first entity; in response to receiving the first communication, create a first entity profile; and present, on the display, the first entity profile for viewing by a user.

In one embodiment, the first entity profile comprises a list of communication addresses associated with the first entity, and the presenting comprises presenting the communication addresses to the user. In one embodiment, the instructions are further configured to instruct the at least one processor to receive information regarding an association of the list and the first entity from a server having associated the list with the first entity based on communications to or from the first entity for persons other than the user.

In one embodiment, the persons other than the user are mobile device users that have received communications from the first entity prior to the user having received the first communication. In one embodiment, the instructions further instruct the at least one processor to include information in the first entity profile that is extracted from the first communication and from subsequent communications to or from the first entity.

In one embodiment, the instructions further instruct the at least one processor to store a plurality of default entity profiles, and the creating the first entity profile comprises customizing a first default entity profile of the plurality of default entity profiles, the first default entity profile corresponding to the first entity.

In this description, various functions and operations may be described as being performed by or caused by software code to simplify description. However, those skilled in the art will recognize what is meant by such expressions is that the functions result from execution of the code by a processor, such as a microprocessor. Alternatively, or in combination, the functions and operations can be implemented using special purpose circuitry, with or without software instructions, such as using an Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) or a Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA). Embodiments can be implemented using hardwired circuitry without software instructions, or in combination with software instructions. Thus, the techniques are limited neither to any specific combination of hardware circuitry and software, nor to any particular source for the instructions executed by the data processing system.

While some embodiments can be implemented in fully functioning computers and computer systems, various embodiments are capable of being distributed as a computing product in a variety of forms and are capable of being applied regardless of the particular type of machine or computer-readable media used to actually effect the distribution.

At least some aspects disclosed can be embodied, at least in part, in software. That is, the techniques may be carried out in a computer system or other data processing system in response to its processor, such as a microprocessor, executing sequences of instructions contained in a memory, such as ROM, volatile RAM, non-volatile memory, cache or a remote storage device.

Routines executed to implement the embodiments may be implemented as part of an operating system, middleware, service delivery platform, SDK (Software Development Kit) component, web services, or other specific application, component, program, object, module or sequence of instructions referred to as “computer programs.” Invocation interfaces to these routines can be exposed to a software development community as an API (Application Programming Interface). The computer programs typically comprise one or more instructions set at various times in various memory and storage devices in a computer, and that, when read and executed by one or more processors in a computer, cause the computer to perform operations necessary to execute elements involving the various aspects.

A machine readable medium can be used to store software and data which when executed by a data processing system causes the system to perform various methods. The executable software and data may be stored in various places including for example ROM, volatile RAM, non-volatile memory and/or cache. Portions of this software and/or data may be stored in any one of these storage devices. Further, the data and instructions can be obtained from centralized servers or peer to peer networks. Different portions of the data and instructions can be obtained from different centralized servers and/or peer to peer networks at different times and in different communication sessions or in a same communication session. The data and instructions can be obtained in entirety prior to the execution of the applications. Alternatively, portions of the data and instructions can be obtained dynamically, just in time, when needed for execution. Thus, it is not required that the data and instructions be on a machine readable medium in entirety at a particular instance of time.

Examples of computer-readable media include but are not limited to recordable and non-recordable type media such as volatile and non-volatile memory devices, read only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), flash memory devices, floppy and other removable disks, magnetic disk storage media, optical storage media (e.g., Compact Disk Read-Only Memory (CD ROMS), Digital Versatile Disks (DVDs), etc.), among others. The computer-readable media may store the instructions.

The instructions may also be embodied in digital and analog communication links for electrical, optical, acoustical or other forms of propagated signals, such as carrier waves, infrared signals, digital signals, etc. However, propagated signals, such as carrier waves, infrared signals, digital signals, etc. are not tangible machine readable medium and are not configured to store instructions.

In general, a tangible machine readable medium includes any mechanism that provides (e.g., stores) information in a form accessible by a machine (e.g., a computer, network device, personal digital assistant, manufacturing tool, any device with a set of one or more processors, etc.).

In various embodiments, hardwired circuitry may be used in combination with software instructions to implement the techniques. Thus, the techniques are neither limited to any specific combination of hardware circuitry and software nor to any particular source for the instructions executed by the data processing system.

Although some of the drawings illustrate a number of operations in a particular order, operations which are not order dependent may be reordered and other operations may be combined or broken out. While some reordering or other groupings are specifically mentioned, others will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art and so do not present an exhaustive list of alternatives. Moreover, it should be recognized that the stages could be implemented in hardware, firmware, software or any combination thereof.

In the foregoing specification, the disclosure has been described with reference to specific exemplary embodiments thereof. It will be evident that various modifications may be made thereto without departing from the broader spirit and scope as set forth in the following claims. The specification and drawings are, accordingly, to be regarded in an illustrative sense rather than a restrictive sense.

Claims

1. A method, comprising: implementing, by a server, a communications service that collects entity data including a first plurality of communication addresses associated with a first entity of a plurality of entities, the first entity having previously sent communications to persons other than a user of a computing device, the user and the persons other than the user associated with the communications service;identifying, by the server, patterns of matching text strings in communication addresses previously used to send communications from each of the plurality of entities to persons other than the user to associate each of the communication addresses with a corresponding one of the plurality of entities, the identifying the patterns comprising comparing a text string in a first one of the communication addresses to a text string in a second one of the communication addresses in order to identify a match;associating, by the server, the first plurality of communication addresses with the first entity based on the patterns; andin response to the computing device of the user receiving a first communication from the first entity, transmitting the first plurality of communication addresses from the server to the computing device to store the first plurality of communication addresses in a memory of the computing device, wherein the first communication from the first entity is received at the computing device at a time after the persons other than the user have received communications from the first entity;wherein the computing device is configured to create a first entity profile customized for the user in response to receiving input from the user to initiate a communication with the first entity, the first entity profile comprising: (i) the first plurality of communication addresses, (ii) a link for an online service with the first entity, and (iii) information specific to the user's relationship with the first entity other than communications between the user and the first entity;wherein the computing device has not previously received a communication from the first entity prior to receiving the first communication.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the entities is associated with respective communications received by the user of the computing device.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein each of the entities associated with the respective communications received by the user is an entity selected from the group consisting of: an entity copied on one of the communications; an entity blind-copied on one of the communications; a sender of one of the communications; a recipient of one of the communications; and an entity referenced in the body, text, or other content of one of the communications.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the computing device is a mobile device, a desktop computer, a laptop, or a tablet.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising causing display of the first entity profile to the user.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising: storing a plurality of entity profiles for entities, the entity profiles including the first entity profile;extracting information from subsequent communications with the first entity by the user; andupdating the first entity profile using the extracted information.

7. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing computer-readable instructions, which when executed, cause a computing device of a user to: at a time after persons other than the user have received communications from a first entity of a plurality of entities, receive, by the computing device, a first communication from the first entity, wherein the computing device has not previously received a communication from the first entity prior to receiving the first communication;after the computing device has received the first communication from the first entity, receive, by the computing device from a server, a first plurality of communication addresses previously used to send communications to the persons other than the user, the addresses associated with the first entity, and the first plurality of communication addresses associated with the first entity by identifiable address patterns of matching text strings, the patterns comprising a text string in a first one of the communication addresses matching a text string in a second one of the communication addresses;storing the first plurality of communication addresses in a memory of the computing device;receive, at the computing device, an input from the user to initiate communication with the first entity;in response to receiving the input from the user to initiate the communication with the first entity, create, by the computing device, a first entity profile customized for the user, the first entity profile comprising: (i) the first plurality of communication addresses, (ii) link for the user to initiate an online service with the first entity, and (iii) information specific to the user's relationship with the first entity other than communications between the user and the first entity; andpresent, on a display of the computing device, the first entity profile to the user, including presenting the first plurality of communication addresses to the user.

8. The storage medium of claim 7, wherein the persons other than the user are mobile device users.

9. The storage medium of claim 7, wherein the instructions further cause the computing device to store a plurality of default entity profiles, and wherein the creating the first entity profile further comprises customizing a first default entity profile of the plurality of default entity profiles, the first default entity profile corresponding to the first entity.

10. The storage medium of claim 7, wherein a predetermined number of communications from the first entity are required to be received by the computing device of the user prior to the creating of the first entity profile.

11. The storage medium of claim 7, wherein the instructions further cause the computing device to: extract information from subsequent communications with the first entity by the user; andupdate the first entity profile using the extracted information.

12. A server, comprising: a display;at least one processor; andmemory storing instructions configured to instruct the at least one processor to: implement a communications service that collects a first plurality of communication addresses previously used by a first entity, wherein a user and persons other than the user are associated with the communications service;identify patterns of matching text strings in communication addresses previously used by the first entity to send communications to the persons other than the user, the identifying the patterns comprising comparing a text string in a first one of the communication addresses to a text string in a second one of the communication addresses in order to identify a match;associate the first plurality of communication addresses with the first entity based on the patterns; andin response to a computing device of the user receiving a first communication from the first entity, transmitting the first plurality of communication addresses from the server to the computing device to store the first plurality of communication addresses in a memory of the computing device, wherein the first communication from the first entity is received at the computing device at a time after the persons other than the user have received communications from the first entity;wherein the computing device is configured to create a first entity profile customized for the user in response to receiving input from the user to initiate a communication with the first entity, the first entity profile comprising: (i) the first plurality of communication addresses, (ii) a link for an online service with the first entity, and (iii) information specific to the user's relationship with the first entity other than communications between the user and the first entity;wherein the computing device has not previously received a communication from the first entity prior to receiving the first communication.

13. The server of claim 12, wherein the instructions further instruct the at least one processor to provide information for the first entity profile that is extracted from subsequent communications to or from the first entity.

14. The server of claim 12, wherein the instructions further instruct the at least one processor to store a plurality of default entity profiles, and the creating the first entity profile further comprises customizing a first default entity profile of the plurality of default entity profiles, the first default entity profile corresponding to the first entity.