BROADCAST AND INSERTION OF AN APPLICATION AGAINST A CONTACT

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present disclosure relates to contact directories, and more particularly to systems and methods of publishing/broadcasting/associating an object with/against a contact directory (CD) of a computing device.

BACKGROUND

[0002] Background description includes information that may be useful in understanding the present invention. It is not an admission that any of the information provided herein is prior art or relevant to the presently claimed invention, or that any publication specifically or implicitly referenced is prior art.

[0003] With growing use of mobile applications, existing users are expected to download and use/access each application separately. For instance, each user may be required to download an application A from Company X, which application A may be for conducting online product purchase, wherein the user would be required to select the application from a group of already downloaded applications in order to access the functionality. It is also possible that the Company X publishes multiple applications for serving different purposes such as one application for customer support, and another one for executing e-commerce transactions, and yet another one for tracking delivery status products or for any other feature.

[0004] There is therefore a need in the art for an improved system and method that avoids the requirement of downloading an application of a publisher, and still enables a user to access all functionality provided by the publisher on his/her computing device. There is further a need in the art for systems and methods that enable saving of memory/disc space in computing devices such as mobile/smart phones of users, along with taking space on user interface of the computing device. There is still further a need for an object such as an executable application or a widget that can be associated efficiently by publisher of the object with one or more users/contacts. There is still further a need for a system and method can allow a user to discover objects that are associated with their stored contacts and automatically associate such objects with the respective contacts as part of their contact directories.

[0005] In some embodiments, the numerical parameters set forth in the written description and attached claims are approximations that can vary depending upon the desired properties sought to be obtained by a particular embodiment. In some embodiments, the numerical parameters should be construed in light of the number of reported significant digits and by applying ordinary rounding techniques Notwithstanding that the numerical ranges and parameters setting forth the broad scope of some embodiments of the invention are approximations, the numerical values set forth in the specific examples are reported as precisely as practicable. The numerical values presented in some embodiments of the invention may contain certain errors necessarily resulting from the standard deviation found in their respective testing measurements.

[0006] As used in the description herein and throughout the claims that follow, the meaning of "a," "an," and "the" includes plural reference unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. Also, as used in the description herein, the meaning of "in" includes "in" and "on" unless the context clearly dictates otherwise.

[0007] The recitation of ranges of values herein is merely intended to serve as a shorthand method of referring individually to each separate value falling within the range. Unless otherwise indicated herein, each individual value is incorporated into the specification as if it were individually recited herein. All methods described herein can be performed in any suitable order unless otherwise indicated herein or otherwise clearly contradicted by context. The use of any and all examples, or exemplary language (e.g. "such as") provided with respect to certain embodiments herein is intended merely to better illuminate the invention and does not pose a limitation on the scope of the invention otherwise claimed. No language in the specification should be construed as indicating any non-claimed element essential to the practice of the invention.

[0008] Groupings of alternative elements or embodiments of the invention disclosed herein are not to be construed as limitations. Each group member can be referred to and claimed individually or in any combination with other members of the group or other elements found herein. One or more members of a group can be included in, or deleted from, a group for reasons of convenience and/or patentability. When any such inclusion or deletion occurs, the specification is herein deemed to contain the group as modified thus fulfilling the written description of all groups used in the appended claims.

SUMMARY

[0009] This summary is provided to introduce concepts related to publishing an object with a phone directory. The concepts are further described below in the detailed description. This summary is not intended to identity key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used to limit the scope of the claimed subject matter.

[0010] In an embodiment, the system for publishing an object with a phone directory is described. In an aspect, the proposed system can include a non-transitory storage device having embodied therein one or more routines operable to publish an object to a phone directory; and one or more processors coupled to the non-transitory storage device and operable to execute the one or more routines, wherein the one or more routines can include an object receive module, which when executed by the one or more processors, receives an object from a publisher. The routines can further include an object to phone directory publication module, which when executed by the one or more processors, publishes the received object with a phone directory (PD), said object being associated with a unique identifier, and said PD comprising contact details of one or more contacts, wherein said association of the object with the PD enables at least one of the one or more contacts to view, on respective computing device, the object against the instance of the unique identifier that is stored in the computing device, wherein said instance is stored in a second PD that forms part of the computing device. For better clarity, the second PD is the phone directory of the at least one of the one or more contacts and is managed in the computing device of the at least one of the one or more contacts.

[0011] In an aspect, the object can be an executable object that enables one or more functionalities through which said at least one of the one or more contacts interacts with the publisher. In another aspect, the one or more functionalities can include any or a combination of appointment management, making reservation/booking, ordering an article, information presentation, status presentation, contact specific content presentation, receiving customer support, interaction with one or more sensors configured in computing device of said at least one of the one or more contacts, and purchasing an article/service. In yet another aspect, the interaction can include any or a combination of filling forms, clicking links/buttons, performing validations, biometric input, voice input, and sensor input.

[0012] In an aspect, the publisher can be enabled to create and/or own the object.

[0013] In another aspect, the computing device can be mobile/smart phone of the at least one of the one or more contacts.

[0014] In yet another aspect, the object can be an executable object that enables the at least one of the one or more contacts to obtain information or status of the publisher of the object or computing device of the publisher. [0015] In an aspect, if a contact of the one or more contacts has not stored the unique identifier, the object to phone directory publication module prompts the contact to store the unique identifier based on which said object is then presented to the contact against the unique identifier.

[0016] In another aspect, when the object or data related thereto is updated, said update is automatically accessible to the at least one of the one or more contacts through access of the object on its computing device.

[0017] In an aspect, the object can be associated with a synchronization data channel that enables automatic pushing of data within the channel to and from the computing device of said at least one of the one or more contacts.

[0018] In another aspect, the publisher can obtain access to all contacts that the object has been associated with.

[0019] In yet another aspect, when the at least one of the one or more contacts views contact associated with the unique identifier, a notification signal can be transmitted to the publisher so as to enable said publisher to push data associated with the object to the at least one of the one or more contacts.

[0020] In yet another aspect, the PD can be an open repository having said one or more contacts.

[0021] Unique identifier, in an aspect of the present disclosure, can be any or a combination of phone number of the publisher, name of the publisher, email address of the publisher, website of the publisher, and a unique handle associated with said publisher.

[0022] In another aspect, the object can be stored in a library of objects such that the publisher can select the object from the library and publish the object to the CD.

[0023] The present disclosure further relates to a device (such as a mobile device/phone of a user), wherein the device can include a non-transitory storage device having embodied therein one or more routines operable to publish an object to a phone directory; and one or more processors coupled to the non-transitory storage device and operable to execute the one or more routines, wherein the one or more routines include an object receive module, which when executed by the one or more processors, receives a first object that is associated with a first unique identifier, and receives a second object associated with a second unique identifier; and an object to number instance association module, which when executed by the one or more processors, associates said first object with an instance of the first unique identifier that is stored in a phone directory (PD) of the device, and associates said second object with an instance of the second unique identifier that is stored in the PD of the device, wherein user of the device is able to interact the first and the second objects.

[0024] In an aspect, the object receive module can receive the first and second objects based on discovery of the first and second objects, wherein the discovery can be based on matching of contacts stored in the phone directory of the device with unique identifiers of respective publishers. In an aspect, any update to unique identifiers stored in the phone directory can re-trigger the discovery.

[0025] In an aspect, the present disclosure further relates to a method comprising receiving, at a central computing device, an object from a publisher; and publishing, using the central computing device, the received object with a phone directory (PD), said object being associated with a unique identifier, and said PD comprising contact details of one or more contacts, wherein said association of the object with the PD enables at least one of the one or more contacts to view, on respective computing device, the object against the instance of the unique identifier stored in the computing device by said at least one of the one or more contacts.

[0026] In an aspect, the object can be an executable object that enables one or more functionalities through which said at least one of the one or more contacts interacts with the publisher, and wherein said one or more functionalities comprise any or a combination of appointment management, making reservation/booking, ordering an article, information presentation, status presentation, contact specific content presentation, receiving customer support, interaction with one or more sensors configured in computing device of said at least one of the one or more contacts, and purchasing an article/service.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0027] The illustrated embodiments of the subject matter will be best understood by reference to the drawings, wherein like parts are designated by like numerals throughout. The following description is intended only by way of example, and simply illustrates certain selected embodiments of devices, systems, and processes that are consistent with the subject matter as claimed herein, wherein:

[0028] FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary architecture for application/object broadcast and publication in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0029] FIG. 2 illustrates exemplary system architecture showing functional modules that enable publication of an object against a PD in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. [0030] FIGs. 3A and 3B illustrate exemplary implementations of the proposed system for broadcasting and publishing one or more applications across all instances of defined contact identifiers.

[0031] FIG. 4 illustrates an exemplary flow diagram illustrating a method of publishing/associating an object to/with a phone directory (PD).

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0032] The following is a detailed description of embodiments of the disclosure depicted in the accompanying drawings. The embodiments are in such detail as to clearly communicate the disclosure. However, the amount of detail offered is not intended to limit the anticipated variations of embodiments; on the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the present disclosure as defined by the appended claims.

[0033] Each of the appended claims defines a separate invention, which for infringement purposes is recognized as including equivalents to the various elements or limitations specified in the claims. Depending on the context, all references below to the "invention" may in some cases refer to certain specific embodiments only. In other cases it will be recognized that references to the "invention" will refer to subject matter recited in one or more, but not necessarily all, of the claims.

[0034] Various terms as used herein are shown below. To the extent a term used in a claim is not defined below, it should be given the broadest definition persons in the pertinent art have given that term as reflected in printed publications and issued patents at the time of filing.

[0035] The present disclosure relates to contact directories, and more particularly to systems and methods of publishing an object with a contact directory. In an aspect, as contact directory (CD) can be referred to and interpreted in various ways, it is clarified that the CD, in context of the present disclosure, refers to and should be interpreted as the phone directory (PD) of a user that is maintained in the mobile/smart phone/device of the user. Therefore, the terms CD and PD would be user interchangeably hereinafter. It is further submitted that all terms such as computing device, or mobile device or mobile phone or smart phone all relate to the same device that a user uses in order to access his contacts that form part of his/her contact/phone directory. As would be appreciated, each CD PD can include multiple contacts, each contact having contact information. For instance, CD of Alan can have 5 contacts in his CD such as Bill, Duke, Chandler, Ross, and Jennifer, wherein each contact can have different attributes/information (referred to as contact information or contact attributes hereinafter) such as phone number, email address, first name, last name, website, URL, social media handle, home address, official address, etc. It is also be appreciated that current CDs allow a user to view multiple contacts at the same time, along with enabling the user to select a particular contact and then access all the stored contact information about the respective contact.

[0036] In an embodiment, the present disclosure relates to a system for publishing an object with a PD, wherein the system can include a non-transitory storage device having embodied therein one or more routines operable to publish an object to a PD; and one or more processors coupled to the non-transitory storage device and operable to execute the one or more routines, wherein the one or more routines can include an object receive module, which when executed by the one or more processors, receives an object (such as an executable application/widget) from a publisher (such as McDonalds™, Lufthansa™, Vodafone™, or any other entity/individual that may wish to publish his/her application/object).

[0037] The routines can further include an object to phone directory publication module, which when executed by the one or more processors, publishes the received object with a phone directory (PD), said object being associated with a unique identifier, and said PD comprising contact details of one or more contacts, wherein said association of the object with the PD enables at least one of the one or more contacts to view, on respective computing device, the object against the instance of the unique identifier that is stored in the computing device, wherein said instance is stored in a second PD that forms part of thecomputing device. For better clarity, the second PD is the phone directory of the at least one of the one or more contacts and is managed in the computing device of the at least one of the one or more contacts. In an aspect, the PD can be a public PD or a private PD. Such a PD can either be provided by the publisher itself, or can be accessed/user by the system through a public or self-created PD. Any other PD/CD can be also be used and does not limit the scope of the present invention.

[0038] For instance, Lufthansa, having a unique identifier such as phone number of 888- 888-8888, can create and publish an application/object, and associate it with PD/CD having a defined number of contacts (say 1000) such that when the system (object to phone directory publication module) undertakes such an association, it finds out all contacts (say 100 of those 1000) that store the unique number/identifier (888-888-8888) and associates the object against the unique number/identifier entry that such contacts have i.e. if users A, B, and C have the unique number/identifier (888-888-8888) stored in their respective CDs, the system shall position the instant object against such entry of the unique number/identifier (888-888- 8888) in their CDs On the other hand, if user D does not store the unique identifier, no object would be associated as no contact entry exists for the unique identifier/publisher in the CD/PD of the user D.

[0039] It is to be appreciated that although aspects the present disclosure have been explained with reference to one CD per user, a user can always have multiple CDs, and all such embodiments are well within the scope of the present disclosure.

[0040] In an aspect, the object can be an executable object that enables one or more functionalities through which said at least one of the one or more contacts interacts with the publisher. In another aspect, the one or more functionalities can include any or a combination of appointment management (such as doctor appointment), making reservation/booking (such as flight bookings), ordering an article (such as online purchase of a laptop), information presentation (such as giving store timings of a store/publisher), status presentation (such as giving battery status of the publisher/publishing user), contact specific content presentation (such as loyalty points, flight timings, reservation details), receiving customer support, interaction with one or more sensors configured in computing device of said at least one of the one or more contacts (such as receiving fingerprint, or any other biometric or voice input from the user/contact), and purchasing an article/service. In yet another aspect, the interaction can include any or a combination of filling forms, clicking links/buttons, performing validations, biometric input, voice input, and sensor input.

[0041] In an aspect, the publisher can be enabled to create and/or own the object.

[0042] In another aspect, the computing device can be mobile/smart phone of the at least one of the one or more contacts.

[0043] In yet another aspect, the object can be an executable object that enables the at least one of the one or more contacts to obtain information or status of the publisher of the object or computing device of the publisher.

[0044] In an aspect, if a contact of the one or more contacts has not stored the unique identifier, the obj ect to phone directory publication module can prompt the contact to store the unique identifier based on which said object can then be presented to the contact against the unique identifier. For instance, if a user A has not stored the customer support number of Lufthansa, when Lufthansa publishes its object against a CD (or any other repository having a set of phone numbers) that has/stores user A's number, as user A has not stored the unique identifier (customer support number) that the object has been published against, user A can be sent an SMS/message/email/phone call by the proposed system indicating/suggesting to store the unique identifier (customer support number) so that the object can be associated such that sooner the user A stores such a number, the object can be made visible against the stored number (customer support number) entry of Lufthansa in the CD of the user. Once associated, user A can interact with the object so as to perform one or more desired functions such as making reservations, reviewing loyalty points, issuing complaints, reviewing booking details, online check-in, etc.

[0045] In another aspect, when the object or data related thereto is updated, said update is automatically accessible to the at least one of the one or more contacts through access of the object on its computing device. Therefore, sooner Sales force updates its object/application, it need not be transmitted again to all users/contact that have Sales force number showing its object, and such an update can automatically be done in real-time in the backend without giving any prompt/notification to the user.

[0046] In an aspect, the object can be associated with a synchronization data channel that enables automatic pushing of data within the channel to and from the computing device of said at least one of the one or more contacts. Therefore, it should be appreciated that object update is different from data associated with the user. For instance, object update per se is inclusion of a new functionality (such as when Lufthansa updates its object to include a new loyalty programme), whereas data can include user level data such as how many loyalty points does the user have or his past booking history etc. Data can further include object level data such as logo, text information, and other static information that the object comprises.

[0047] In another aspect, the publisher can obtain access to all contacts that the object has been associated with. That is, Lufthansa can view all contacts/users that have stores its number and therefore can access its published object.

[0048] In yet another aspect, when the at least one of the one or more contacts views contact associated with the unique identifier, a notification signal can be transmitted to the publisher so as to enable said publisher to push data associated with the object to the at least one of the one or more contacts. That is, when user A views the contact entry/information of Lufthansa, a notification/trigger can be sent to Lufthansa through its respective object intimating that the user is currently looking at its contact information or may be is intending to interact with its object.

[0049] In yet another aspect, the PD can be an open repository having said one or more contacts. For instance, the PD can be a database/collection of phone numbers of numerous users/contact, wherein when an object is associated with the PD, all contacts that actually store the unique identifier pertaining to the object are able to view the object and/or interact therewith.

[0050] Unique identifier, in an aspect of the present disclosure, can be any or a combination of phone number of the publisher, name of the publisher, email address of the publisher, website of the publisher, and a unique handle associated with said publisher.

[0051] In another aspect, the object can be stored in a library of objects such that the publisher can select the object from the library and publish the object to the CD. Therefore, in an aspect, objects may not be proprietary of the publisher per se. For instance, a doctor may simply select a generic appointment object from the library of object, and associate the object with a CD that pertains to his/her patients (therefore, a doctor can have multiple CDs, one of family, one of friends, one of clients, etc.) so as to allow all the patients to view the appointment object against the name/entry of the doctor in their respective PD, wherein access to the appointment object can enable the patients to quickly see the schedule of the doctor and book an open slot while making an appointment.

[0052] The present disclosure further relates to a device (such as a mobile device/phone of a user), wherein the device can include a non-transitory storage device having embodied therein one or more routines operable to publish an object to a phone directory; and one or more processors coupled to the non-transitory storage device and operable to execute the one or more routines, wherein the one or more routines include an object receive module, which when executed by the one or more processors, receives a first object that is associated with a first unique identifier, and receives a second object associated with a second unique identifier; and an object to number instance association module, which when executed by the one or more processors, associates said first object with an instance of the first unique identifier that is stored in a phone directory (PD) of the device, and associates said second object with an instance of the second unique identifier that is stored in the PD of the device, wherein user of the device is able to interact the first and the second objects.

[0053] In an aspect, the object receive module can receive the first and second objects based on discovery of the first and second objects, wherein the discovery can be based on matching of contacts stored in the phone directory of the device with unique identifiers of respective publishers. In an aspect, any update to unique identifiers stored in the phone directory can re-trigger the discovery.

[0054] In an instance therefore, a user A can access the proposed system (say by downloading an application that pertains to the system) and associate his/her PD with the system in a manner such that the system can automatically discovers if, for any or more of the contacts stored in the PD of the user A, any object has been published by the contact. For instance, if user A has a PD having 4 entries, of user B, C, D, and E; sooner the user A associates/intimates the proposed system about the PD, the system can discover if any of users B/C/D E have published any object against their unique identifier (say their phone number), said discovery being done in real-time based on changes/additions/deletions to the PD of user A. Sooner one or more objects are discovered, they are automatically associated with the contact entries of the respective users in the PD of user A i.e .if it is discovered that user B is the phone number of Walmart, and that Walmart has published an object against that number, the system can automatically associate/present the object icon/button/link alongside the entry for user B in the PD of user A. It is to be appreciated that such determination of object to unique identifier matching may not only be done based on phone number, but can also be done based on name/address/website/social media handle/etc. of the publisher that the user A may have stored.

[0055] In an aspect, the present disclosure further relates to a method comprising receiving, at a central computing device, an object from a publisher; and publishing, using the central computing device, the received object with a phone directory (PD), said object being associated with a unique identifier, and said PD comprising contact details of one or more contacts, wherein said association of the object with the PD enables at least one of the one or more contacts to view, on respective computing device, the object against the instance of the unique identifier stored in the computing device by said at least one of the one or more contacts.

[0056] In an aspect, the object can be an executable object that enables one or more functionalities through which said at least one of the one or more contacts interacts with the publisher, and wherein said one or more functionalities comprise any or a combination of appointment management, making reservation/booking, ordering an article, information presentation, status presentation, contact specific content presentation, receiving customer support, interaction with one or more sensors configured in computing device of said at least one of the one or more contacts, and purchasing an article/service.

[0057] In an aspect, the present disclosure allows a user, a contact, or a third-party to publish an object, which may also interchangeably referred to as an app, widget, snippet, application, or any other like term that is representative of an executable code, against a given unique identifier, for instance, against a phone/mobile number, name, email address, or website address, such that publication of the object through the proposed system allows each instance of the unique identifier to automatically (or after due permission) get associated with the object of the publisher. For example, an E-Commerce company such as Amazon may have a customer care number 1800-XXX-YYYY (referred to as unique identifier) such that whenever Amazon or any other authorized third-party publishes an object such as an IVR (Interactive Voice Response) application, or a online ordering application, or a troubleshooting application, or any other like application, the object can automatically get associated with each instance of 1800-XXX-YYYY, i.e., if users A, B, and C, have stored the number 1800-XXX-YYYY, the object would automatically get associated with the number and the users A, B, and C, can click on the object represented as icon, insignia, or logo, to access one or more functionalities associated with the object.

[0058] Thus, with the present disclosure, an access to the one or more functionalities of a publisher to a user of a given computing device becomes quicker, more efficient, and minimizes the memory requirement as well as the clutter on user interface of the given computing device. The present disclosure has a strong technical effect/impact in the sense that it enables users to automatically discover objects/applications that have been posted/published/broadcasted by publishers whose contact numbers/unique identifiers are stored by the user. Therefore, the present system eliminates the requirement of the user having to search for applications that he/she wishes to download. Also, an additional technical effect pertaining to the present invention involves positioning the object within the PD/CD of the user, which eliminates the object to be downloaded/installed and positioned on the user interface of the mobile phone, making the display more clear and clutter free. Still further, the proposed system enables the object to be associated with contacts of one or more CDs directly by the publisher through broadcasting without requiring for users/contacts to manually search for application. With the objects being interactive, system of the present disclosure enables all functionalities that the publisher may wish to incorporate in an object to be made accessible to the user in real-time, including transmission of updates/new features/functionalities to objects being made accessible through the backend itself.

[0059] The current contacts book of smart phones do not have the level of digital interaction which this present disclosure enables. The disclosure is akin to developing a reverse CRM wherein the user gets access to all self-service features for many and people companies at a common place.

[0060] Further a software development kit is provided such that any developer or service provider could create new objects and make it available through a common library of objects. Any publishers could then choose one of those objects to deploy against its contact. The kit would also enable auto-login or SSO to enable seamless access to objects and data by customers to interact with the publishers data relevant to the user.

[0061] Various embodiments are further described herein with reference to the accompanying figures. It should be noted that the description and figures relate to exemplary embodiments, and should not be construed as a limitation to the subject matter of the present disclosure. It is also to be understood that various arrangements may be devised that, although not explicitly described or shown herein, embody the principles of the subject matter of the present disclosure. Moreover, all statements herein reciting principles, aspects, and embodiments of the subject matter of the present disclosure, as well as specific examples, are intended to encompass equivalents thereof. Yet further, for the sake of brevity, operation or working principles pertaining to the technical material that is known in the technical field of the present disclosure have not been described in detail so as not to unnecessarily obscure the present disclosure.

[0062] FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary architecture 100 for application broadcast and publication in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure. In an aspect, architecture 100 of the present system can include a publisher 102 (such as a doctor's clinic) having an object 104 (such as doctor appointment object) that is intended to be published against all instances of a unique identifier such as phone number 1800-XXX-YYY associated with the publisher 102. In an example, the object 104 may include, but not limited to, an application, widget, snippet, application, or any other like term that is representative of an executable code.

[0063] In an exemplary implementation, the publisher 102 may be considered as any processor enabled device which performs one or more functions. An example of such a computing device(s) include, but are not limited to, desktop computers, laptops and portable computers. The present approaches may also be implemented in other types of computing device(s) without deviating from the scope of the present disclosure. The computing device(s) may communicate with other computing devices over a communication network 106.

[0064] The communication network 106 may be a wireless network, a wired network or a combination thereof. The communication network may be implemented as one of the different types of networks, such as intranet, Local Area Network (LAN), Wide Area Network (WAN), the Internet, and the like. The communication network may either be a dedicated network or a shared network. The shared network represents an association of the different types of networks that use a variety of protocols, for example, Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), Wireless Application Protocol (WAP), and the like, to communicate with one another. Further, the communication network may include a variety of network devices, including routers, bridges, servers, computing devices, storage devices, and the like.

[0065] Continuing with the present embodiment, the architecture 100 can further include a proposed system 108 that can receive the object 104 from the publisher 102 over the network 106, and determine/discover all instances where the unique identifier is present, say across one or more shared phone directories 110-1 to 110-N, one or more private phone directories 1 12-1 to 112-M, and one or more other instances/entries of the unique identifier (say on a website or any other medium where the unique identifier is present/mentioned). In an example, the unique identifier can include, but not limited to a phone number of the publisher 102, name of the publisher 102, email address of the publisher 102, website of the publisher 102, and unique handle of the publisher 102.

[0066] In an aspect, a shared phone directory, such as 110-1 to 110-N, is one where users can share their respective one or more (otherwise private) phone directories to enable the shared phone directories to form part of a group-sourced (also referred as crowd-sourced hereinafter) phone directory database. For instance, user A can store one or more phone directories, say one for his college colleagues, one for office colleagues, one for family members, and one for school friends, among other like phone directories, wherein at least a few of these directories can be uploaded to a group-sourced phone directory database once the user A signs up with the proposed system (coupled with the database), wherein the uploaded phone directories can be automatically shared with members of the respective directories. For instance, in case user A has 3 directories Dl, D2, and D3 with directory Dl having contact details of users A, B, C, D, and E, the directories can be uploaded automatically or manually by the user A onto the group-sourced phone directory database such that upon uploading, a notification can be automatically sent to users B-E giving them access to the shared phone directory Dl at the group-sourced phone directory database. Similar actions can be performed for other directories D2 and D3 as well. Also, as can be appreciated, although the present disclosure is described with reference to phone directories, but it can be implemented using other contact directories including email directories, social app directories, calling app directories, messaging directories, and so forth.

[0067] Returning to the disclosure of the present embodiment, upon completing the discovery of all instances where the unique identifier is present, the proposed system 108 can, for each instance/entry of the unique identifier that is discovered across one or more phone directories (PD) at a respective computing device, publish or associate the object 104 with the contact information of the unique identifier instance, say in the form of a logo, an icon, or an insignia. Such association of the object 104 with the unique identifier enables a user to interact, on a respective computing device (not shown in FIG. 1), with the object 104 against the instance/entry of the unique identifier stored in the computing device.

[0068] In an exemplary implementation, the user can click on the object 104 and interact with the publisher 102 to access one or more functionalities associated therewith. In an example, the one or more functionalities may include, but not limited to, appointment management, making reservation/booking, ordering an article, information presentation, status presentation, status presentation, contact specific content presentation, receiving customer support, interaction with one or more sensors configured in computing device of said at least one or more contacts, and purchasing an article. Also, in an example, the interaction of the user with the publisher 102 may include, but not limited to, filling forms, clicking links/buttons, performing validations, biometric input, voice input, and sensor input. More details of the proposed system will be discussed with reference to the following figures.

[0069] FIG. 2 illustrates various components of the system 108. In an example, the system 108 is in communication with the publisher 102 and/or with a computing device 202 through the communication network 106 as discussed above. In an example implementation, the computing device 202 can be mobile phone or smart phone. The computing device 202 may include an object receive module 204 and an object to number instance association module 206.

[0070] The system 108 includes one or more processors) 208. The one or more processor(s) 208 may be implemented as one or more microprocessors, microcomputers, microcontrollers, digital signal processors, central processing units, logic circuitries, and/or any devices that manipulate data based on operational instructions. Among other capabilities, the one or more processors) 208 are configured to fetch and execute computer-readable instructions stored in a memory 210 of the system 108. The memory 210 may store one or more computer-readable instructions or routines, which may be fetched and executed to publish or associate the object 104 with the phone directory. The memory 210 may include any non-transitory storage device including, for example, volatile memory such as RAM, or non-volatile memory such as EPROM, flash memory, and the like.

[0071] The system 108 also includes an interface(s) 212. The interface(s) 212 may include a variety of interfaces, for example, interfaces for data input and output devices, referred to as I/O devices, storage devices, and the like. The interface(s) 212 facilitate communication of the system 108 with various devices coupled to the system 108. The interface(s) 212 may also provide a communication pathway for one or more components of the system 108. Examples of such components include, but are not limited to, module(s) 214

[0072] In an implementation, the module(s) 214 further includes an object receive module 216 and an object to phone directory publication module 218. Further, in the present embodiment shown in FIG. 2, the system 108 includes data 220 that is either stored or generated as a result of the one or more functionalities implemented by any of the module(s) 214. Further, the data 220 may include phone directories data 222, and other data 224. It should be noted that although the present approach has been described in the context of a computing machine implemented for a financial institution, it may be also implemented on any other device with a programmable memory and a processor, without deviating from the scope of the present disclosure. The operation of the system 108 is described in detail with reference to FIGS. 3A and 3B in the description hereinafter.

[0073] In operation, when a publisher X 302 wishes to publishes an object facilitated by the system 108 described herein, the publisher X 302 may create the object using a software development kit (SDK), or own an object which is available in a store/library of objects. The object owned from the store/library or objects can be a ready to use object, or a generic object which can be customized by the publisher X 302 according to the publisher's service. For example, in case the publisher X 302 being a doctor has owned a generic object, the publisher can modify that generic object to interact with the users/contacts listed in the phone directory of the publisher X 302.

[0074] Once the publisher X 302 is possession of an object A 304-1 for interaction with the users/contacts, the publisher X 302 submits the object A 304-1 along with a unique identifier to the object receive module 216 of the system 108. In an example, the object A 304-1 can be an executable object that enables one or more functionalities through which at least one or more contacts/users can contact with the publisher X 302. Further, as described above, the unique identifier can include, but not limited to a phone number of the publisher X 302, name of the publisher X 302, email address of the publisher X 302, website address of the publisher X 302, and unique handle of the publisher X 302.

[0075] In an exemplary implementation, considering that the publisher X 302 wishes to publish the object A 304-1 against a phone number 9810617999 being the unique identifier, the object receive module 216 triggers the object to phone directory publication module 218 upon receipt of the object A 304-1. Then, the object to phone directory publication module 218discovers all possible instances of the phone number 9810617999 across one or more phone directories or other mediums storing having the given phone number, and may then perform verification to confirm whether one or more instances, for example, phone/mobile number, name, email address, or website address, are matching with the details of the publisher X 302. In response to an affirmative verification, the object to phone directory publication module 218publishes the object A 304-lagainst each matching instance of the phone number 9810617999 in different respective computing devices. In an example, the computing devices may include mobile/smart phones. The object A 304-1 is published in such a manner that the object A 304-1 is published against the contact information of the phone number 9810617999. For instance, as shown in FIG. 3A, the object to phone directory publication module 218 publishes the object A against the contact entry matching the phone number 9810617999 in user Ul 's phone directory (PD) 306 and user U2's phone directory 308.

[0076] In another exemplary implementation, with reference to FIG. 3B, when the same publisher X 302 wishes to publish another object B 304-2, the object to phone directory publication module of the system 108 can again broadcast the object B 304-2 to all the matching instances of the same phone number 9810617999. With such implantation, logo/icon^tton/link/insignia for the two objects A 304-1 and b 304-2 are published against the contact entry for phone number 9810617999 associated with the publisher X 302.

[0077] It is to be appreciated that although an object can be automatically published or associated with each instance of a phone number/unique identifier that said object is tied to, such association may not be forced the object to phone directory publication module 218 of the system 108. In other words, if the user Ul has the phone number of Lufthansa, and Lufthansa publishes their online reservation object, the user Ul may be asked if they wish to associate the stored phone number of Lufthansa with the online reservation object before the object is associated with the phone number of Lufthansa.

[0078] However, when an object or data related thereto is updated by a publisher, the said update is automatically accessible to the different users on whose phone directories the object is published or associated. For example, an update is made to the code data or static data associated with the object, then that code data or static data is automatically made accessible to the user through mere access of the object on a given computing device. For enabling such automatic accessibility of the updates, an object provided in accordance with present disclosure is associated with a synchronization data channel. Such synchronization data channel enables automatic pushing of data within the channel to and from a given computing device of the user. Hence, the user is not prompted again and again to update the object to latest version, and the object is automatically updated.

[0079] In an exemplary implementation, while discovering all possible instances of the phone number / unique identifier across one or more phone directories, if it is found that a user has not stored the given phone number / unique identifier, the object to phone directory publication module 218 may prompt said user to store the given phone number / unique identifier, in order to receive the services associated with the publisher X 302. Based on the selection and storage of the phone number / unique identifier, the object to phone directory publication module 218 may publish the object A 304-1 against the phone number / unique identifier.

[0080] Once the object A 304-1 published against the phone number / unique identifier, different users storing the phone number / unique identifier can click on the object A 304-1 (say a logo of the object A 304-1) for performing various one or more functionalities such as booking a product online, raise a customer compliant, making an online reservation, making a dining reservation, booking an appointment, or any other like activity. In an example implementation, when a user clicks on the object A 304-1 or views the object A-304-1 associated with the phone number / unique identifier, the object to phone directory publication module 218 may transmit a signal to the publisher X 302 so as to enable the publisher X 302 to push data associated with the object to the user of a given computing device. For example, after clicking on the object A 304-1, the user may be able to view his/her account status, details of previous order, saved preferences, or other personnel information on "My Account Status".

[0081] Further, in an exemplary implementation, once the object A 304-1 is published or associated with the phone number / unique identifier of different one or more phone directories, the object to phone directory publication module 218 or the publisher X 302 may get an access to all the contacts/users that the object A 304-1 has been associated with. With such implementation, the publisher X 302 may collect the data about the associated contacts/users for further processing. Based on such processing, the publisher X 302 may include improvement in the services and functionalities associated with the object A 304-1.

[0082] Yet further, in an exemplary implementation, the object is an executable object that enables the users of the respective computing devices to obtain information and status of the publisher of the object or computing device of the publisher. It can be appreciated that the object in the context of the present disclosure need not be of service provider but can be of an actual user/contact itself. For instance, the object can be configured to indicate phone battery status such that a user Ul can publish its battery status object such that in all phone directories that have instances of the user' s phone number (or any other configured unique identifier) of the user Ul, the published battery status object is associated with the phone number of the user Ul . In such a case, whenever user U2 or U3 that have stored contact information of the user Ul, view the contact information of user Ul, the users U2 and U3 can readily see the current battery status of the user Ul . Therefore, the object in context of the present disclosure can be any code that can get associated with contact number instance and can be executed based on desired functionality.

[0083] It is to be appreciated that object can be any executable code in any form factor that a user can access to enable a desired functionality. As mentioned above, in an aspect, object such as alarm, battery status, Youtube™ channel, calendar, can be provided in the computing device operating system itself, wherein a contact/user can simply select an object from a list of objects and broadcast or publish the same to all phone directories that have his/her phone number. For instance, battery status object or location object of user Ul can be published by user Ul to all users such as U2, U3, U4, and U5 who have phone number of user Ul stored in at least one of their phone directories, who can view the battery status or current location of the user Ul whenever they select or view contact information of user Ul .

[0084] Yet further, in an exemplary implementation, it may be possible that an application is associated with 2 contact numbers/phone numbers/mobile numbers, say one being a mobile phone number and other being a landline number, in which case the published object can be associated with both the numbers. It may also be possible deactivate the object from backend (i.e, by the publisher), in which case the object icon/insignia/logo can either be removed automatically from the contact information of all phone directories that have contact numbers against which the objects are associated, or such object icons can be rendered inactive/deactivated.

[0085] In a further exemplary implementation, the association between a phone number and an object published against it, need not be limited only to phone directories. In fact, such an association can be performed against each instance/entry of the phone number against which the object is published, wherein such a phone number may be, for instance, present on a web page such as a Yellow Page listing, in which scenarios too, the object can get associated with the contact numbers. Further, in an example, the phone directories can be open repositories having one or more contact information associated with different users.

[0086] In another exemplary implementation, it is also possible that the object publisher/provider gives a list of specific target users along with their phone numbers/unique contact identifiers where the object publisher/provider wishes the object to be installed/associated/configured. All such potential embodiments are well within the scope of the present disclosure.

[0087] In an exemplary implementation, the object can also pertain to control one or more Internet of Things (IoT) devices. Objects can further relate to any or a combination of status of user, distance to user, approximate wait time on an IVR, VoIP, social media handles, clock, user account details such as miles, booking, account history, promotional material, among other like objects, all of which are well within the scope of the present disclosure.

[0088] In accordance with a further embodiment of the present disclosure show in FIG. 2, when objects are transmitted from the publisher 102, the computing device 202 receives the objects from the publisher 102 using its object receive module 204. In an example, when the publisher 102 transmits the two obj ects, the object receive module 204 may receive a first object that is associated with a first unique identifier, and receives a second object associated with a second unique identifier. Upon receipt of the first and second objects, the object to number instance association module 206 of the computing device 202 associates said first object with an instance of the first unique identifier that is stored in a phone directory of the computing device 202, and associates said second object with an instance of the second unique identifier that is stored in the phone directory of the computing device 202, where user of the computing device 202 is able to interact the first and the second objects by clicking on these objects, as described above.

[0089] In an exemplary implementation of the further embodiment, the object receive module 204 may receive the first and second objects based on discovery of the first and second objects. The said discovery is based on matching of contacts stored in the phone directory of the computing device 202 with unique identifiers of respective publisher. Further, in case of any update to the unique identifiers stored in the phone directory, the said discovery is re-triggered. In an example, when a user modifies the existing unique identifier, it is discovered that whether the unique identifier is still matching with any object of existing publishers. In case, the unique identifier is not associated with any publisher, the object associated with the unique identifier is removed from the phone directory. In another example, when a user enters a new unique identifier in the phone directory, a new discovery is triggered to discover an object to be associated or published against that unique identifier. In yet another example, the discovery of objects for the unique identifiers present in the phone directory of the computing device 204 may be triggered after predetermined time intervals, so that the one or more functionalities associated with the object of the publisher are promptly published to facilitate a user of a given computing device. Further, as discussed above, the accessibility of functionalities of object or app, provided/published/associated as per the present disclosure, becomes quicker and more efficient Also, the proposed object minimizes the utilization of memory on a given computing device, and also minimizes the apps clutter on a user interface of the given computing device.

[0090] FIG. 4 illustrates exemplary flow diagram showing different steps of method 400, for publishing object against a unique identifier on a computing device. The order in which the method400 is described is not intended to be construed as a limitation, and any number of the described method blocks may be combined in any order to implement the methods, or an alternative method. Furthermore, method 400 may be implemented by processing resource or computing device(s) through any suitable hardware, non-transitory machine readable instructions, or combination thereof

[0091] It may also be understood that method 400 may be performed by programmed computing devices, such as the system 108 as depicted in FIGS. 1-2. Furthermore, the method 400 may be executed based on instructions stored in a non-transitory computer readable medium, as will be readily understood. The non-transitory computer readable medium may include, for example, digital memories, magnetic storage media, such as one or more magnetic disks and magnetic tapes, hard drives, or optically readable digital data storage media. The method 400 is described below with reference to the computing devices used in communication network as described above; other suitable systems for the execution of these methods may also be utilized. Additionally, implementation of the method is not limited to such examples.

[0092] FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a method for publishing object against a unique identifier on a computing device. The flowchart is described with respect to a central computing device case scenario.

[0093] At block 402, an object from a publisher is received at the central computing device, wherein the object is associated with a unique identifier. In an exemplary implementation, the central computing device can be the system 108 of the present disclosure or can host the proposed system.

[0094] At block 404, the central computing device publishes the received object with a phone directory (PD), wherein the association of the object with the PD enables at least one of the one or more contacts that forms part of the PD to view, on respective computing device, the object against the instance of the unique identifier stored in the computing device of the PD. [0095] Thus, with the present disclosure, an access to the one or more functionalities of a publisher to a user of a given computing device becomes quicker, more efficient, and minimizes the memory requirement as well as the clutter on user interface of the given computing device.

[0096] For a person skilled in the art, it is understood that the use of phrase(s) "is", "are", "may", "can", "could", "will", "should" or the like is for understanding various embodiments of the present disclosure and the phrases do not limit the disclosure or its implementation in any manner.

[0097] The above description does not provide specific details of manufacture or design of the various components. Those of skill in the art are familiar with such details, and unless departures from those techniques are set out, techniques, known, related art or later developed designs and materials should be employed. Those in the art are capable of choosing suitable manufacturing and design details.

[0098] Note that throughout the following discussion, numerous references may be made regarding servers, services, engines, modules, interfaces, portals, platforms, or other systems formed from computing devices. It should be appreciated that the use of such terms are deemed to represent one or more computing devices having at least one processor configured to or programmed to execute software instructions stored on a computer readable tangible, non-transitory medium or also referred to as a processor-readable medium. For example, a server can include one or more computers operating as a web server, database server, or other type of computer server in a manner to fulfill described roles, responsibilities, or functions. Within the context of this document, the disclosed devices or systems are also deemed to comprise computing devices having a processor and a non-transitory memory storing instructions executable by the processor that cause the device to control, manage, or otherwise manipulate the features of the devices or systems.

[0099] It should be understood, however, that all of these and similar terms are to be associated with the appropriate physical quantities and are merely convenient labels applied to these quantities. Unless specifically stated otherwise, as apparent from the discussion herein, it is appreciated that throughout the description, discussions utilizing terms such as "receiving" or "publishing" or the like, refer to the action and processes of a computing machine, or similar electronic computing device, that manipulates and transforms data represented as physical (electronic) quantities within the computer system's registers and memories into other data similarly represented as physical quantities within the computer system memories or registers or other such information storage, transmission or display devices.

[00100] The exemplary embodiment also relates to a system/apparatus/device for performing the operations discussed herein above. This system/apparatus/device may be specially constructed for the required purposes, or it may comprise a general-purpose computer selectively activated or reconfigured by a computer program stored in the computer. Such a computer program may be stored in a computer readable storage medium, such as, but is not limited to, any type of disk including floppy disks, optical disks, CD- ROMs, and magnetic-optical disks, read-only memories (ROMs), random access memories (RAMs), EPROMs, EEPROMs, magnetic or optical cards, or any type of media suitable for storing electronic instructions, and each coupled to a computer system bus.

[00101] The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the present disclosure. It will be appreciated that several of the above-disclosed and other features and functions, or alternatives thereof, may be combined into other systems or applications. Various presently unforeseen or unanticipated alternatives, modifications, variations, or improvements therein may subsequently be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the present disclosure as encompassed by the following claims.

[00102] The claims, as originally presented and as they may be amended, encompass variations, alternatives, modifications, improvements, equivalents, and substantial equivalents of the embodiments and teachings disclosed herein, including those that are presently unforeseen or unappreciated, and that, for example, may arise from applicants/patentees and others.

[00103] It will be appreciated that variants of the above-disclosed and other features and functions, or alternatives thereof, may be combined into many other different systems or applications. Various presently unforeseen or unanticipated alternatives, modifications, variations, or improvements therein may be subsequently made by those skilled in the art which are also intended to be encompassed by the following claims.

[00104] It is to be appreciated that the application in context need not be of a company but can be of an actual user/contact itself. For instance, the application can be configured to indicate phone battery status such that user A can publish its battery status application such that in all contact directories that have instances of the phone number (or any other configured identifier) of user A, the published battery status application is associated with the phone number of user A. In such a case, whenever user B or C that have stored contact information of user A, view the contact information of user A, they can readily see the current battery status of user A. Therefore, application in context of the present invention can be any code that can get associated with contact number instance and can be executed based on desired functionality.

[00105] It is also to be appreciated that many versions/variants of the proposed invention can be implemented, all of which are well within the scope of the present disclosure. For instance, it may be possible that an application is associated with 2 contact numbers/phone numbers/mobile numbers, say one being a mobile phone number and other being a landline number, in which case the published application can be associated with both the numbers. It may also be possible deactivate the application from backend (i.e by the application publisher), in which case the application icon/insignia/logo can either be removed automatically from the contact information of all contact directories that have contact numbers against which the applications are associated, or such application icons can be rendered inactive/deactivated.

[00106] It is further to be appreciated that association between a contact number and an application published against it, need not be limited only to contact directories. In fact, such an association can be performed against each instance of the contact number against which the application is published, wherein such a contact number may be, for instance, present on a web page such as a Yellow Page listing, in which scenarios too, the application can get associated with the contact numbers.

[00107] In another exemplary embodiment, it is also possible that the application publisher/provider gives a list of specific target users along with their phone numbers/unique contact identifiers where the applicationpublisher/provider wishes the application to be installed/associated/configured. In yet another exemplary embodiment, it is possible that the application publisher/provider (such as company 202) associates the desired application even in user devices that don't have the contact identifier/phone number provided by the application publisher/provider, where a new contact can actually be created with the contact identifier/phone number and then the application can be associated. All such potential embodiments are well within the scope of the present disclosure.

[00108] It is to be appreciated that application can be any executable code in any form factor that a user can access to enable a desired functionality. As mentioned above, in an aspect, application such as alarm, battery status, Youtubechannel, calendar, can be provided in the mobile device operating system itself, wherein a contact/user can simply select an application from a list of applications and broadcast the same to all contact directories that have his/her phone number. For instance, battery status application or location application of user A can be published by user A to all users such as B, C, D, and E who have phone number of user A stored in at least one of their contact directories, who can view the battery status or current location of user A whenever they select or view contact information of user A.

[00109] In an aspect, the application can also pertain to control one or more Internet of Things (IoT) devices. Applications can further relate to any or a combination of status of user, distance to user, approximate wait time on an IVR, VoIP, social media handles, clock, user account details such as miles, booking, account history, promotional material, among other like applications, all of which are well within the scope of the present disclosure.

[00110] While the foregoing describes various embodiments of the invention, other and further embodiments of the invention may be devised without departing from the basic scope thereof. The scope of the invention is determined by the claims that follow. The invention is not limited to the described embodiments, versions or examples, which are included to enable a person having ordinary skill in the art to make and use the invention when combined with information and knowledge available to the person having ordinary skill in the art.