Contact schema

Claim 1

A method for defining and relating a plurality of contacts having corresponding contact information stored on one or more storage media and based upon a predetermined schema, the method comprising: an act of providing a predetermined schema for defining and interrelating a plurality of corresponding contacts, which include at least one person, at least one group and at least one organization, and based on the corresponding contact information stored in the one or more storage media; an act of providing with the predetermined schema, data fields for defining a person with personal contact information within three person data elements, the three person data elements comprising: an person e-address data element having an access point data field, an elocation descriptor data field, a start date data field and end date data field, a service type data field and a technology model category field; a location data element having a region data field, a neighborhood data field, a street data field, a city data field, a postal code data field, a state or province data field, a country code data field and a mailstop data field, and a name data element having a given name data field, a middle name data field, a surname data field, a title data field, a nickname data field, at least one phonetic yomi name data field; a display name data field and a name type category data field; wherein the three person data elements are hierarchically organized as children to a person class defined by a person name, a person type, a birthdate and a gender; an act of providing with the predetermined schema, data fields for defining a group with group contact information within two group data elements, the two group data elements comprising: a group e-address data element having an access point data field, an elocation descriptor data field, a start date data field and end date data field, a service type data field and a technology model category field, wherein the start date data field and the end date data field define a start and end date for which an e-address defined by the e-address data element is valid; and a group membership data element having a capabilities data field for designating a person's capability within the group and a membership type data field for defining a type of membership the person has within the group; wherein the two group data elements are hierarchically organized as children to a group class defined by a group name and a group organization type; an act of providing with the predetermined schema, data fields for defining an organization with organization contact information within two organization data elements, the two organization data elements comprising: an organization e-address data element having an access point data field, an elocation descriptor data field, a start date data field and end date data field, a service type data field and a technology model category field; and a location data element having a region data field, a neighborhood data field, a street data field, a city data field, a postal code data field, a state or province data field, a country code data field and a mailstop data field, wherein the two organization data elements are hierarchically organized as children to an organization class defined by an organization name and an organization type, an act of providing with the predetermined schema, role occupancies having corresponding role occupancy data fields for defining the role occupancies of the contacts, the role occupancies comprising relationships between contacts, and wherein at least one role occupancy and corresponding role occupancy data fields interrelate at least one person with at least one contact other than a person; automatically defining at least one role occupancy for at least one contact that interrelates the at least one contact with at least one other contact and based on contact information extracted from at least one preexisting database; and an act of accessing the predetermined schema with one or more interfaces to identify and display any of the person, group or organization contact information defined in accordance with the predetermined schema.

Claim 2

A method for defining and relating a plurality of contacts having corresponding contact information stored on one or more storage media and based upon a predetermined schema, the method comprising: an act of providing a predetermined schema for defining and interrelating a plurality of corresponding contacts, which include at least one person, at least one group and at least one organization, and based on the corresponding contact information stored in the one or more storage media; an act of providing with the predetermined schema, data fields for defining a person with personal contact information within three person data elements, the three person data elements comprising: an person e-address data element having an access point data field, an elocation descriptor data field, a start date data field and end date data field, a service type data field and a technology model category field; a location data element having a region data field, a neighborhood data field, a street data field, a city data field, a postal code data field, a state or province data field, a country code data field and a mailstop data field, and a name data element having a given name data field, a middle name data field, a surname data field, a title data field, a nickname data field, at least one phonetic yomi name data field; a display name data field and a name type category data field; wherein the three person data elements are hierarchically organized as children to a person class defined by a person name, a person type, a birthdate and a gender; an act of providing with the predetermined schema, data fields for defining a group with group contact information within two group data elements, the two group data elements comprising: a group e-address data element having an access point data field, an elocation descriptor data field, a start date data field and end date data field, a service type data field and a technology model category field, wherein the start date data field and the end date data field define a start and end date for which an e-address defined by the e-address data element is valid; and a group membership data element having a capabilities data field for designating a person's capability within the group and a membership type data field for defining a type of membership the person has within the group; wherein the two group data elements are hierarchically organized as children to a group class defined by a group name and a group organization type; an act of providing with the predetermined schema, data fields for defining an organization with organization contact information within two organization data elements, the two organization data elements comprising: an organization e-address data element having an access point data field, an elocation descriptor data field, a start date data field and end date data field, a service type data field and a technology model category field; and a location data element having a region data field, a neighborhood data field, a street data field, a city data field, a postal code data field, a state or province data field, a country code data field and a mailstop data field, wherein the two organization data elements are hierarchically organized as children to an organization class defined by an organization name and an organization type, an act of providing with the predetermined schema, role occupancies having corresponding role occupancy data fields for defining the role occupancies of the contacts, the role occupancies comprising relationships between contacts, and wherein at least one role occupancy and corresponding role occupancy data fields interrelate at least one person with at least one contact other than a person; automatically defining at least one role occupancy for at least one contact that interrelates the at least one contact with at least one other contact and based on contact information extracted from at least one preexisting database; and an act of accessing the predetermined schema with one or more interfaces to identify and display any of the person, group or organization contact information defined in accordance with the predetermined schema.