Preferred contact group centric interface

Abstract

A preferred contact group centric interface for a communication device can be used to facilitate communications by a user. The user interface can be arranged to activate from a user's “home page” on the display, from an idle screen that is accessed after a timeout period expires, or any other appropriate mechanism that activates the preferred contact group centric experience. A user selects the preferred contact group from among an array of the user's contacts. Once the contact group is configured, a minimal number of navigation/selection features is necessary to activate any number of communication modes available to the contacts. The contact group is configured such that simple and quick navigation between the contact members is achieved. The contact group can be presented in 2D and 3D arrangements, in any number of list or geometric configurations. A pricing plan can optionally be tied to each member of the contact group.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A system comprising:
 a data store for maintaining a subset of contact numbers selected at least in part by a user of a communications device, wherein the subset of user contact numbers includes a portion of contact numbers accessible by the communications device and wherein the subset of contact numbers includes a first contact number and a second contact number different from the first contact number; and   a user interface component, implemented by executing instructions on a processor, the user interface component operative to:
 cause the generation of a display on the communications device without initiating a user contact application for accessing the set of contact numbers accessible by the communications device, wherein the display includes a graphical identifier associated with each contact number of the subset of contact numbers and wherein each graphical identifier is selectable to facilitate communication via the respective contact number; 
   wherein the first and second contact numbers correspond to a same user contact; and   wherein each graphical identifier corresponds to only one user contact number.