Patent ID: 8670544

Claim:
A method for enabling a phone to display a directory, the method comprising: receiving, from the phone, at a directory server comprising a processor and a memory, an initial request for the directory; generating and storing, at the directory server, a directory context, the directory context (1) associated with the phone, (2) comprising a part of the directory and (3) comprising a first set of information about which of one or more entries of the directory are being displayed by the phone, the first set of information indicating that no entries are displayed by the phone at a time of the initial request; transmitting, from the directory server to the phone, a first display signal to display a second set of information on the phone, the first display signal based on the first set of information about which of the one or more entries of the directory are being displayed by the phone at the time of the initial request; modifying, by the directory server, the directory context, the modification including modifying the first set of information based on the first display signal so that the first set of information includes information about which of the one or more entries are being displayed by the phone subsequent to the transmission of the first display signal; receiving, at the directory server, a subsequent request from the phone, wherein the subsequent request includes a request to filter the directory, the request to filter the directory comprising: a first filter signal comprising a user filter input, wherein the first filter signal comprises a first filter number or filter character in an entry field of an entry in the directory context, wherein the directory context is modified based on the user filter input such that each remaining entry in the context includes a remaining field having a first number or character that matches the first filter number or filter character; and a second filter signal wherein the second filter signal comprises a second filter number or filter character in the entry field, wherein the directory context is modified such that the remaining field of each remaining entry has the first number or character that matches the first filter number or filter character and a second number or character that matches the second filter number or character; wherein a third set of information is based on the modified directory context; transmitting, from the directory server to the phone, a second display signal to display the third set of information on the phone, the second display signal based on the first set of information about which of one or more entries of the directory are being displayed by the phone at a time of the subsequent request; and modifying, by the directory server, the directory context, the modification including modifying the first set of information based on the transmitted display signal so that the first set of information includes information about which of the one or more entries are being displayed by the phone subsequent to the transmission of the second display signal.