Patent ID: 7885937

Claim:
A method comprising: mapping an online contact identifier to a first mapping value that corresponds to an entry in a first hierarchical extensible contact list at a first device, wherein the online contact identifier is associated with a plurality of contact values that at least comprise an electronic mail address and a phone number; mapping a first of the plurality of contact values to a second mapping value that corresponds to a first field of the first hierarchical extensible contact list, wherein the second mapping value is more compact than an identifier of the first field; mapping a second of the plurality of contact values to a third mapping value and a fourth mapping value, wherein the third mapping value corresponds to a second field of the first hierarchical extensible contact list and the fourth mapping value corresponds to a sub-field of the second field of the first hierarchical extensible contact list; and generating a contact update message and transmitting the contact update message to a second device for updating a second hierarchical extensible contact list at the second device, wherein the contact update message comprises the first mapping value, the second mapping value, the third mapping value, the fourth mapping value, first contact value, and the second contact value, wherein the contact update message comprise the first mapping value and the second mapping value instead of the online contact identifier and the identifier of the first field to communicate the first contact value to the second device for updating the second hierarchical extensible contact list at the second device with the first contact value, wherein the contact update message comprises the third mapping value and the fourth mapping value instead of an identifier of the second field and an identifier of the sub-field to communicate the second contact value to the second device for updating the second hierarchical extensible contact list, wherein the third mapping value and the fourth mapping value are respectively more compact than an identifier of the second field and an identifier of the sub-field, wherein a same mapping scheme has been established for the first and the second hierarchical extensible contact lists.