Patent ID: 6771756
Filing Date: 2004-08-03
Classification: G06Q,H04L,H04W

Abstract:
A method for facilitating communications among a group of people comprising the steps of:storing a points of contact (POC) for each member of the group, the POC for a member controlling how a member of the group can be contacted in a variety of contexts; providing each member of the group with a public points of contact list (PPOC) which the member populates with his or her POC; providing each member of the group with a personal contact list (PCL) in which the member can list members of the group and other people and their POC; responding to a user request to contact a member of the group by compiling for the user, the user being a member of the group, a derived POC list from the user's PCL and the PPOC of the member to be contacted; determining whether the user has requested a specific connection mode or POC; and attempting to make the requested connection using a requested connection mode or POC if requested.