Method of determining the technical address of a communication partner and telecommunications apparatus

Abstract

A method of determining a communication partner's technical address for a user. A directory is provided that includes at least one technical address and at least one identifier for each one of a plurality of possible communication partners for a user. Based on an input from the user, at least one communication partner is obtained from the directory and is suggested to the user. At least one of the steps of providing the directory or suggesting the communication partner is performed automatically based on the user's previous communication behavior. A telecommunications apparatus is provided for performing the method.

1 . A method of determining a communication partner's technical address for a user, which comprises: 
 providing a directory that includes at least one technical address and at least one identifier for each one of a plurality of possible communication partners for the user;    based on an input from the user and previous communication behavior of the user, automatically obtaining at least one possible communication partner from the directory and suggesting to the user the possible communication partner.    
   
   
       2 . The method according to  claim 1 , which comprises performing the step of providing the directory by using at least one directory being sorted based on a call probability, the at least one directory being selected from the group consisting of a public directory, a directory used for a restricted user group, and a user-specific directory.  
   
   
       3 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the directory is a personal directory for the user generated according to the previous communication behavior of the user.  
   
   
       4 . The method according to  claim 1 , in which the step of providing a directory includes obtaining the at least one technical address for each one of the plurality of possible communication partners by recording technical addresses of the user's previous communication partners over a predetermined period of time.  
   
   
       5 . The method according to  claim 1 , in which the step of providing a directory includes: 
 obtaining the at least one technical address for each one of the plurality of possible communication partners by recording technical addresses of the user's previous communication partners over a predetermined period of time in a predetermined directory;    sorting the predetermined directory according to a call probability based in part on the previous communication behavior of the user; and    obtaining the at least one identifier for at least one of the plurality of possible communication partners from the predetermined directory.    
   
   
       6 . The method according to  claim 1 , in which the step of providing a directory includes: 
 obtaining the at least one technical address for each one of the plurality of possible communication partners by recording technical addresses of the user's previous communication partners over a predetermined period of time; and    requesting from the user, the at least one identifier for at least one of the plurality of possible communication partners.    
   
   
       7 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the input from the user includes information about at least part of the at least one technical address of a desired communication partner.  
   
   
       8 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the input from the user includes information about at least part of the at least one identifier of a desired communication partner.  
   
   
       9 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein if the input from the user is ambiguous, the suggesting step is performed based on the user's previous communication behavior.  
   
   
       10 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the step of obtaining and suggesting at least one possible communication partner provides a plurality of suggested possible communication partners; and which further comprises selecting one of the plurality of suggested possible communication partners by obtaining a further input from the user.  
   
   
       11 . A telecommunications apparatus for determining a technical address of a communication partner for a user, comprising: 
 a device for automatically providing, based on previous communication behavior of the user, a directory that includes at least one technical address and at least one identifier for each one of a plurality of possible communication partners; and    a device for suggesting at least one communication partner from the directory based on an input by a user.    
   
   
       12 . The apparatus according to  claim 11 , wherein said device for suggesting at least one communication partner operates automatically with a predetermined selection strategy to suggest the at least one communication partner based on the user's previous communication behavior.  
   
   
       13 . The apparatus according to  claim 12 , wherein the predetermined selection strategy is based on a points key of combined criteria, the criteria are selected from the group consisting of call frequency between the user and each one of the plurality of possible communication partners in the directory, time of last call between the user and each one of the plurality of possible communication partners in the directory, and possible communication partners from the directory whose at least one technical address or at least one identifier match at least part of the input provided by the user.  
   
   
       14 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the previous communication behavior used to suggest at least one possible communication partner from the directory is based on call frequency between the user and each one of the plurality of possible communication partners in the directory.  
   
   
       15 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the previous communication behavior used to suggest the at least one possible communication partner from the directory is based on a points key of combined criteria, the criteria are selected from the group consisting of call frequency, time of last call, and user input search information.  
   
   
       16 . The method according to  claim 2 , wherein the call probability used to sort the at least one directory is based on a points key of combined criteria, the criteria are selected from the group consisting of call frequency, time of last call, user input search information, and available connection methods.  
   
   
       17 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the input from the user includes phonetic information about at least part of the at least one identifier of a desired communication partner.