Patent ID: 7549125
Filing Date: 2009-06-16
Classification: G06Q

Abstract:
1. In a computer that stores contact information and that runs one or more applications, a method for controlling how the contact information is provided to the one or more applications, the method comprising: detecting a request from an application that is running on the computer for contact information corresponding to a particular user that is logged on to the computer; upon detecting the request and prior to providing the application with contact information, after detecting the request and prior to providing the application with the requested contact information, informing the user that the application is seeking certain contact information by presenting to the user a list of a plurality of selectable contact personas that are each associated with the user and that each contain different contact information about the user, and presenting to the user a privacy value proposition to inform the user how the application will use the contact information; receiving a user selection of a contact persona from the list of the plurality of contact personas, wherein the user selection of the contact persona grants access to the application to access the selected contact persona; determining an appropriate format in which the contact information corresponding to the selected contact persona is to be presented to the application; and providing the application with the contact information corresponding to the selected contact persona.