Patent ID: 8621382

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for assigning a field type to information added to a contact record, the method comprising: presenting, on a graphical user interface of a computing device, a display for a particular contact record, wherein the display includes (i) a name for a particular contact that is represented by the particular contact record and (ii) a generic input area; wherein the particular contact record is from a plurality of contact records that are stored in computer memory, each of the plurality of contact records identifies a name for a contact that is represented by the contact record, and each of the plurality of contact records is configured to store multiple entries that each include a value and a field type from a plurality of field types; receiving user input of information using the generic input area; determining a field type from the plurality of field types based on matching semantics of the received user input, wherein the determining occurs without receiving user input specifically identifying the matching field type; presenting, in the display for the particular contact record and in response to determining the field type, an interface element of selectable field types that displays the determined field type as a selected field type; storing, as an entry for the particular contact record, the determined field type and the received user input as the value for the determined field type; and after presenting the interface element of selectable field types that displays the determined field type as a selected field type: receiving second user input of second information using the generic input area; determining a second field type from the plurality of field types based on matching semantics of the received second user input, wherein the determining of the second field type occurs without receiving user input specifically identifying the second field type; presenting, in the display for the particular contact record and in response to determining the second field type, a second interface element of selectable field types that displays the determined second field type as the selected field type for the second interface element; and storing, as a second entry for the particular contact record, the determined second field type and the received second user input as the value for the determined second field type, the determined second field type being different than the determined field type.