Apparatus, program products and methods utilizing intelligent contact management

Abstract

Apparatus, program products, and methods implement various intelligent contact management operations to improve the productivity of users of electronic messaging systems and the like. To perform an intelligent name lookup, for example, a subset of the users in a contact database that meet a predetermined search criteria is identified, and a favored user is selected therefrom based upon a predetermined affinity criteria. Also, the automated addition of new entries to a contact database is supported by accumulating the number of contacts between a first user and a second user, with a new entry associated with the second user added to the contact database associated with the first user in response to the number of contacts between the first and second users exceeding a predetermined threshold. The automated addressing of electronic messages is also supported by determining, in response to a first user addressing an electronic message to a second user, whether the second user is a member of an electronic messaging group that defines a plurality of member users, and if so, to address the electronic message to at least one additional member user in the electronic messaging group. The automated creation of electronic messaging groups is also supported by addressing an electronic message to a plurality of recipient users in response to user input, and automatically creating a new electronic messaging group including the plurality of recipient users. Furthermore, the automated updating of electronic messaging groups is supported by addressing an electronic message to an electronic messaging group including a plurality of member users in response to user input, selectively updating an address list for the electronic message in response to user input, and selectively updating the electronic messaging group based upon the updates to the address list.

What is claimed is:  
     
         1 . A computer-implemented method of locating for a user from a contact database including a plurality of users, the method comprising: 
 (a) identifying a subset of the plurality of users in the contact database that meet a predetermined search criteria;    (b) selecting a favored user among the subset of users based upon a predetermined affinity criteria; and    (c) displaying a display representation associated with the favored user.    
     
     
         2 . The method of    claim 1   , wherein the predetermined search criteria includes a character string search term, and wherein identifying the subset of users that meet the predetermined search criteria includes comparing the character string search term with a character string stored in a predetermined field of an entry in the contact database corresponding to each user.  
     
     
         3 . The method of    claim 2   , wherein identifying the subset of users that meet the predetermined search criteria is performed during a partial name lookup operation.  
     
     
         4 . The method of    claim 3   , further comprising, in response to an additional character being appended to the character string search term, updating the predetermined search criteria and narrowing the subset of users to include only users that meet the updated predetermined search criteria.  
     
     
         5 . The method of    claim 1   , wherein identifying the subset of users is performed in response to a lookup request from a requesting user, and wherein selecting the favored user among the subset of users includes comparing a location identifier associated with the requesting user with a location identifier associated with each user in the subset of users.  
     
     
         6 . The method of    claim 5   , wherein the location identifier is selected from the group consisting of facility, building, telephone number, address, ZIP code, floor, mail station, network, domain, and combinations thereof.  
     
     
         7 . The method of    claim 5   , wherein comparing the location identifier associated with the requesting user with the location identifier associated with each user in the subset of users includes determining if the location identifier associated with each user identifies a related location to a predetermined location identified by the location identifier associated with the requesting user.  
     
     
         8 . The method of    claim 7   , further comprising monitoring communications between first and second locations to determine whether the first and second locations are related to one another.  
     
     
         9 . The method of    claim 1   , wherein identifying the subset of users is performed in response to a lookup request from a requesting user, and wherein selecting the favored user among the subset of users includes comparing a function identifier associated with the requesting user with a function identifier associated with each user in the subset of users.  
     
     
         10 . The method of    claim 9   , wherein the function identifier is selected from the group consisting of department, job title, job family, shift, supervisor, and combinations thereof.  
     
     
         11 . The method of    claim 1   , wherein identifying the subset of users is performed in response to a lookup request from a requesting user, and wherein selecting the favored user among the subset of users includes determining a contact affinity between the requesting user and each user in the subset of users and selecting as the favored user the user among the subset of users having the greatest contact affinity with the requesting user.  
     
     
         12 . The method of    claim 11   , further comprising monitoring contacts between the requesting user and each of the subset of users, wherein selection of the favored user is based upon the relative number of contacts between the user and each user in the subset of users.  
     
     
         13 . The method of    claim 12   , wherein monitoring contacts between the requesting user and each of the subset of users includes at least one of monitoring messages sent by the requesting user to each of the subset of users, monitoring messages received by the requesting user from each of the subset of users, monitoring messages sent by the requesting user as carbon copies to each of the subset of users, and monitoring attempts by the requesting user to retrieve information from the contact database regarding each of the subset of users.  
     
     
         14 . The method of    claim 1   , further comprising displaying a display representation of at least one additional user from the subset of users, wherein displaying the display representation associated with the favored user includes highlighting the display representation of the favored user relative to the display representation of the additional user.  
     
     
         15 . A computer-implemented method of preparing an electronic message, the method comprising: 
 (a) in response to a first user addressing an electronic message to a second user, determining whether the second user is a member of an electronic messaging group, the electronic messaging group defining a plurality of member users; and    (b) if the second user is a member of the electronic messaging group, addressing the electronic message to at least one additional member user in the electronic messaging group.    
     
     
         16 . The method of    claim 15   , wherein addressing the electronic message to at least one additional member user in the electronic messaging group includes adding each additional member user to an address list for the electronic message.  
     
     
         17 . The method of    claim 16   , wherein adding each additional member to the address list includes adding at least one additional member to a copy list for the electronic message.  
     
     
         18 . The method of    claim 15   , wherein addressing the electronic message to at least one additional member user in the electronic messaging group includes requesting user input from the first user to either accept or reject addressing to each additional member user in the electronic messaging group, and in response to the user input, addressing the electronic message to any accepted additional member users.  
     
     
         19 . The method of    claim 15   , wherein the electronic messaging group is a first electronic messaging group among a plurality of electronic messaging groups additionally including a second electronic messaging group defining a second plurality of member users, and wherein determining whether the second user is a member of the electronic messaging group includes determining whether the second user is a member of any of the plurality of electronic messaging groups.  
     
     
         20 . The method of    claim 19   , wherein, if the second user is a member of both of the first and second electronic messaging groups, receiving user input from the first user that selects at least one of the first and second electronic messaging groups, and wherein addressing the electronic message to at least one additional member user in the first electronic messaging group is performed only if the first user selects the first electronic messaging group.  
     
     
         21 . The method of    claim 19   , further comprising, if the second user is a member of the second electronic messaging group, addressing the electronic message to at least one additional member user in the second electronic messaging group.  
     
     
         22 . A computer-implemented method of maintaining electronic messaging groups, the method comprising: 
 (a) addressing an electronic message to an electronic messaging group including a plurality of member users in response to user input, including generating an address list for the electronic message that includes a list entry associated with each member user;    (b) selectively updating the address list for the electronic message in response to user input; and    (c) automatically updating the electronic messaging group based upon the updates to the address list for the electronic message.    
     
     
         23 . The method of    claim 22   , wherein automatically updating the electronic messaging group is performed in response to user input to send the electronic message.