Technical Field

The invention relates to a method for obtaining personal contact information by means computer network as well as to a system for obtaining personal contact information.

Background Art

It happens quite often that two or more people meet each other at some location at a certain time, interact with each other and part again. Especially in cases of accidental meetings, often the exchange of contact information such as names, telephone numbers, e-mail addresses etc. is forgotten, deemed not appropriate or unnecessary. In case of a very short interaction, e. g. shared looks, or when there is only the possibility of visual interaction the time does not even suffice for exchanging contact information.

Up to now, not having exchanged contact information usually meant that contacting each other or meeting each other once more was impossible or very unlikely due to lack of the information. One could try to place an ad in a local newspaper, however this was only successful when the other person was a) a reader of this local newspaper and b) had himself or herself an active wish to obtain or deliver contact information to the other person.

Summary of the invention It is therefore the object of the invention to create a method and a system pertaining to the technical field initially mentioned, that provide for technical means allowing for obtaining personal contact information of a person that has been met even when contact information has not been exchanged during the meeting.

The solution of the invention is specified by the features of claim 1. According to the invention, the method for obtaining personal contact information comprises the following steps: a) At a meeting location and at a meeting time a first person shows a predetermined visual signal to a second person, personal contact information of whom is desired by the first person. b) The first person enters a contact wish including meeting information relating to the meeting location and the meeting time into a first end user terminal connected to the computer network.

c) The entered meeting information is transmitted over the computer network to a central database.

d) The meeting information is stored in the central database.

e) The meeting information is made accessible over a predetermined computer network based service.

f) The second person accesses the service and enters contact information into a second end user terminal connected to the computer network.

g) The entered contact information is transmitted over the computer network to the central database.

h) The contact information is transmitted to the first person over the computer network.

Therefore, by the first person showing the predetermined visual signal, the second person being at the same meeting location is advised of the contact wish of the first person. By advertising and general publicity the predetermined signal may be caused to become known in large regions or even world-wide. Showing the signal by the first person signifies that the person is interested to obtain contact information, that he or she will enter meeting information into the database and that the second person is invited to contact the predetermined computer network based service in order to view the meeting information and submit the contact information to be forwarded to the first person. For example, having been shown the signal means that one is invited to visit a predetermined webpage with a domain name associated to the predetermined signal (such as "contactsign.com"; preferably, the same address is used for entering information in the database by the first user and for retrieving and entering information by the second user).

Therefore, the second person will know what to do and therefore contact the network based service allowing him or her to provide contact information. On the other hand, the second person is still free to dispense with contacting the service and/or providing information. At the same time, the privacy of both persons is preserved: The first person does not need to provide contact information during the meeting (which could be spotted by a third person when visually shown to the second person over a certain distance), the second person is free whether he or she shall consult the computer network based service and enter his or her contact information. Due to the fact that the network based service will be consulted by a large number of people, it will preferably provide functionality which facilitates the search for relevant meeting information be the second person (i. e. the possibility of entering search criteria, filtering, ordering, etc.).

Transmission of the contact information to the first person may be actively initiated as soon as it has been entered by the second person ("push") or it may be made available ^' to the first person over the predetermined computer network based service ("pull").

A corresponding system for obtaining personal contact information comprises

a) a computer network;

b) a central database connected to the computer network;

c) a first network based service accessing the central database; and

d) a second network based service.

The central database is configured to store contact wishes including meeting information relating to a meeting location and a meeting time entered into a first end user terminal by a first person and transmitted over the computer network. The first network based service is configured to making the meeting information accessible, in particular publicly accessible, over the computer network. The central database is further configured to receive contact information entered into a second end user terminal by a second person and transmitted over the computer network. The second network based service is configured to transmit the received contact information to the first person over the computer network, either by active communication ("push") or after a request of the first person, e. g. by visiting a website ("pull").

Preferably, the computer network is a publicly accessible network such as the internet. However, in certain applications it may be a network having a restricted user group such as a local area network (LAN) within an institution, enterprise or building. Whereas the term "meeting information", "meeting location" and "meeting time" is used, "meeting" is to be understood in a broad sense including all situations wherein two people are close enough that visual communication of the predetermined signal is possible.

The end user terminals may be personal computers (PCs), including portable devices, mobile phones allowing for network access (e. g. "smartphones"), PDAs, public access terminals or even usual telephones or other devices if there is a corresponding gateway allowing for interaction with the computer network.

It is to be noted that the first network based service and the second network based service may be realized by means of completely independent applications, possibly even running on different servers (different hardware). However, they may be as well realized by several applications working on the same server or by a single application providing all the required functionality.

Showing the signal by the first person and perception by the second person takes only a very short time. By choice of a suitable signal its visual communication is possible over considerable distance, even in cases when auditive communication is not feasible. Furthermore, for psychological reasons it is easier for many people to communicate with other people by means of e-mail, telephone etc. than by direct interaction. Therefore, even in cases where it would be possible to exchange contact information, e. g. by addressing the other person, it may be preferred to use the predetermined signal in order to signalize one's contact wish.

The inventive method has a large number of possible applications in private as well as in business contexts. For simplicity, the first person is called A and the second person is called B in the following examples: a) A is sitting in a bus and perceives B, sitting in another bus smiling at him, when looking through the window. A would like to get to know B and shows the predetermined signal to B.

b) A is attending a party with a large crowd and would like to speak to a certain person B. Because there is no opportunity during the party, A shows the predetermined signal to B. During a business trip abroad, A spots an old school time friend B driving past him in another car. A has no contact information whatsoever about B. In order to meet him in the foreign city, A shows the predetermined signal.

A is at the station and manages to get on the train in the last moment. When looking out of the window, A finds out that her suitcase is still standing on the platform, besides the ticket vending machine. A is showing the predetermined signal to a person B that is unknown to him but that is standing close to the suitcase and that has noticed that it has been forgotten by the first person.

A's toddler loses her beloved teddy bear when walking over a bridge. The bear is falling into the river and is fished out by a fisher B on a boat. A shows the predetermined signal to B.

A is implicated in a traffic accident on a road crossing. He needs an independent witness of the accident and thus shows the predetermined signal to a passer-by B.

A is on a trekking tour and spots experienced mountaineers B that are familiar with the place, climbing in a rock face. A would like to get information about the region and the risks and therefore shows the predetermined signal to the mountaineers B.

During snow board free riding A has suffered a leg injury and is therefore now sitting on a rock, waiting for help. Unfortunately, at first attempt the members B of the rescue service cannot reach the first person. Therefore, A shows the predetermined signal to the people B of the rescue service in order to exchange phone numbers through mobile access to the predetermined computer network based service.

When driving to the holiday destination, A is waiting in a traffic jam. In a car standing on the neighboring lane A spots a person B watching her with interest. A would like to know more about the travel destination of B and therefore shows the predetermined sign.

A is out on the water on his motorboat. He crosses his dream sailing yacht and would like to know more about the type of the yacht and its origin. That is why he shows the predetermined signal to the skipper B of the sailing yacht. k) A is out in the city park, jogging with a friend and crosses another sympathetic jogger B. In order to win the other jogger B for a common workout A shows the predetermined signal.

In all cases, the other person or other people (second person), knowing about the significance of the predetermined signal are free to use the predetermined computer network based service in order to provide their contact information (such as e-mail and/or telephone number).

The system being present, it allows for further uses, e. g. for uses where the predetermined signal is not (explicitly) shown during the meeting. For example, the second person witnesses a criminal act but may not interfere or show herself to the actor. However, later on the person is ready to support the victim. Therefore, she tries to contact the victim later on using the predetermined computer network based service, anticipating that the victim has submitted meeting information (i. e. information relating to the location and time of the criminal act) or that the victim will visit the service looking for a corresponding contact wish.

Preferably, the method includes the step of storing the contact information received from the second person in the central database including assigning the contact information to the meeting information. Correspondingly, in the context of the inventive system, the database is configured to store the contact information received from the second person in the central database including assigning the contact information to the meeting information. The stored contact information may be retrieved by the first person or actively transmitted to the first person; usually it will not be displayed to further users. Assignment to the meeting information allows for assigning the correct user access rights and for comprehensively informing the first user, especially in cases where a user has submitted a plurality of different contact wishes to the central database.

In addition to the contact information the second person may provide further information to be transmitted to the first person and/or to be stored in the database, such as a message to the first user, a photo of oneself, etc. Alternatively, the contact information received by the second person is not stored in the central database but immediately forwarded to the first person, e. g. by e-mail, text or instant messaging.

Advantageously, the visual signal is a predetermined hand signal or gesture, in particular a one-handed gesture. Such hand signals or gestures do not require the use of further appliances (such as cards, etc.) and may be easily learned and used without delay in most situations. One-handed gestures are preferred because they can be made in cases where only one hand is freely movable (driving, cycling, carrying of bags etc.). The hand signals or gestures may be static or dynamic (i. e. involving movements). Usually, dynamic gestures will be preferred due to their better distinctiveness. A suitable gesture involves e. g. the bringing together of the outstretched index finger and thumb until they touch each other. This gesture is clearly visible even from quite a distance, it is easy to learn and symbolizes the aim, namely the bringing together of people.

Preferably, the meeting information further includes information about circumstances of the meeting situation. This information may e. g. include information relating to:

a) the first person (appearance, function, etc.);

b) the actions of the first and/or second person at meeting time;

c) third people present; and/or

d) reasons relating to the contact wish. The meeting information may be complemented by further information, such as a photo of the first person, the meeting place and/or the second person.

In a preferred embodiment, together with entering the meeting information the first person enters an indication allowing for contacting the first person. Correspondingly, in the inventive system, the central database is preferably configured to store an indication allowing for contacting the first person together with the meeting information.

When entering the meeting information the first person is asked to provide the indication such as an e-mail or instant messaging address or a mobile phone number (for sending text or multi-media messages). The indication may be asked before the meeting information is entered, simultaneously with the meeting information (i. e. on the same form or within the same dialog) or after the meeting information has been entered. Entering the indication may be compulsory or optional. In the first case, the requirement of entering an indication may be additionally used in order to avoid abuse of the method and system.

Preferentially, the indication allowing for contacting the first person is used for transmitting the contact information to the first person over the computer network. However, the indication is not made accessible over the computer network based service. The latter protects the privacy of the users placing contact wishes / meeting information. The first allows for actively contacting the first person when a response is entered.

In a corresponding system, the second network based service is configured to actively transmit the contact information to the first person over the computer network, using the indication provided by the first person (i. e. e-mail, instant messaging address etc.).

Other embodiments may not provide for entering indications for contacting the first user at all. This means that the first user will have to regularly check the central database (by means of corresponding services) in order to see whether his or her contact wish has been answered. Access to this information may be restricted to the first person by means of a token, cookies, a dedicated URL or a password.

In further embodiments, in order to protect the privacy of the second user, transmitting the contact information to the first person may not involve the sending of the contact information as received from the second user but only the sending of a token that allows contacting the second user by means of another computer network based service of the system. Thereby, the contact information of the second user as well as the indications allowing for contacting the first person are kept concealed in the database until they are deliberately communicated by either the first or the second person.

Preferably, the network based service comprises a publicly accessible website displaying the meeting information. Websites are easily accessible from around the world and may provide all the required functionality. Alternatively or additionally, the meeting information is accessible by other means such as automated telephone services, messaging services / e-mail (which e. g. forward all information relating to a given region or matching with recorded locations to a user), short message services (SMS) etc. Preferably, a database record relating to meeting information may be deleted by the first user. Access to this deletion functionality may be restricted using e. g. the indication allowing for contacting the first person and/or a password/token provided to the first user after entering the meeting information and/or technical means such as (HTTP) "cookies".

Here and in the following, "deleting" always relates to actual deleting of the information from the database as well as to marking content as "non-public" or "non-accessible" in order to prohibit access by users or a third person.

Additionally or alternatively, the database record relating to meeting information is automatically deleted after a predetermined time period after entering the meeting information, such as e. g. 4 weeks, 2 months or similar. Advantageously, meeting information is retrievable after setting at least one filter relating to the meeting location and/or the meeting time. This allows for filtering out events that clearly match locations and/or times where the predetermined signal has been perceived.

One preferable filter is a time range for cases where the exact time of the meeting cannot be remembered. In a graphical user interface, the time range may be defined by moving two sliders delimiting the range on a time line.

Further filters may be applied to the information about circumstances of the meeting situation, e. g. keywords may be entered and only those meeting information matching the keyword in a given field (e. g. information on the first person, on actions of the first and/or second person, on the second person, etc.) or in any field is displayed. The search for relevant entries may be further supported by the possibility of flexibly ordering results (e. g. based chronologically, on time or alphabetically, on location). Other advantageous embodiments and combinations of features come out from the detailed description below and the totality of the claims.

Brief description of the drawings

The drawings used to explain the embodiments show: Fig. 1 a block diagram schematically displaying a system according to the invention;

Fig. 2 a flowchart of a method according to the invention;

Fig. 3 a data flow diagram relating to the inventive system;

Fig. 4A, B maps for selecting the location of a user of a website of the inventive system;

Fig. 5 a website dialog for entering a contact wish;

Fig. 6 a website dialog for filtering records;

Fig. 7 a website result list of filtered records;

Fig. 8 a website dialog for responding to a contact wish; and Fig. 9 a suitable predetermined gesture.

In the figures, the same components are given the same reference symbols. Preferred embodiments

Fig. 1 is a block diagram schematically displaying a system according to the invention. The system 100 comprises a database 1 10 storing a plurality of records 1 1 1. The database is realized by software running on a server computer in a manner that is known as such and may be accessed e. g. by using SQL. The system further includes a first service 120 that may access the database 1 10 and set up a page accessible by WWW, containing information based on the content of the database 1 10. The system further includes a second service 130 that may access the database 1 10 and transmit information stored in the database to a receiver having an address stored in the database, e. g. by sending an e- mail to the mentioned address, containing the mentioned information.

The services 120, 130 are implemented by applications running on a server, the server has access to the database 1 10 as well as to the services 120, 130. Therefore, the services 120, 130 may exchange data with the database 1 10 over an internal connection 140. Further, the database as well as the services 120, 130 all have access to the internet and may be accessed from the internet (wiggled double arrows). In particular, the database 1 10 and the services 120, 130 will be accessed by the first person, entering a contact wish over end user terminal 10 and the second person, searching for contact wishes by means of end user terminal 20.

Fig. 2 shows a flowchart of a method according to the invention. The flow chart is subdivided into three columns. The left hand column relates to actions by the first person (having a contact wish), the right column relates to actions by the second person (the first person wishes contact with) and the middle column relates to process steps carried out by the inventive system (database 1 10 and services 120, 130 as shown in Fig. 1).

First of all, the first person perceives the second person, e. g. during an accidental encounter. In order to signalize to the second person, the first person shows a predetermined signal, such as bringing together of the outstretched index finger and thumb until they touch each other (step 201 ), shown in Figure 9. The second person perceives this signal (step 202) and - assumed he or she knows the significance of the signal - is therefore informed that the first person is interested in a contact and that he or she should check a predetermined website (which may be called e. g. www.contactsign.com) at a later time in order to be able to submit his or her contact information to the first person.

Next, the first person will visit the mentioned website and enter meeting information (step 21 1 ) as well as his or her e-mail address (step 212), e. g. using his or her personal computer (PC) after having returned home. The meeting information comprises indications about the meeting time (e. g. " 16 September 2009, about 19.00") and location (e. g. "Kornhaus Cafe, Bern, Switzerland") as well as about the first person (such as "26-yr old woman, red dress, dark brown hair"), the second person (such as "man, about 30-yr old, light brown hair, beard, grey suit") and the circumstances of the encounter ("waiting at the bar").

Both data is transmitted over the internet and stored in a record of the central database (steps 213, 21 ). Next, the submitted meeting information is made publicly accessible on the website (step 220). This step can be preceded by an automated and/or manual review or verification of the meeting information and/or the e-mail address, e. g. in order to avoid abuse of the system for undesired or illegal purposes. When the meeting information has been made accessible (or when it is rejected due to one of the reasons mentioned before) the first person is sent an e-mail by the system (step 221 ), confirming the publication and providing him or her with an individual URL for accessing the record. This allows for amending the meeting information, deleting the contact wish (thereby stopping public access to the contact information) or check responses to his or her contact wish in the future.

When the second person, having been informed about the contact wish by the predetermined signal, visits the website (step 230) he or she will check the meeting information. For that purpose, the records in the database may be filtered, in particular by applying location and time filters (see below). Once the relevant record has been found, the second person replies to the contact wish by choosing an appropriate option on the website. The reply includes a message to the first person (such as "Thank you for the sign. I would like to meet you again.", step 231 ) and information for contacting the second person (such as his or her e-mail address, mobile phone number or instant messaging address, step 232). Alternatively, the second person may actively decline the contact wish, either by selecting a corresponding option on the website or by entering a corresponding message ("Sorry, no interest.") and refraining from entering any contact information. Once again, the information provided is stored in the database (steps 233, 234). Next, using the e-mail address of the first person, which is stored in the database record but not made accessible to third persons, the first person is informed about a reply to his or her contact wish (step 240). The corresponding e-mail includes the message of the second person as well as the contact information provided. Once the first person has read the e-mail (step 241 ) he or she is free to contact the second person using the provided contact information (steps 250, 251). This contact is direct and does not involve the inventive system anymore.

In a modification of the embodiment described above, the contact information (especially e-mail address) of the second person is not submitted to the first person, but the first person will be sent the message of the second person as well as a dedicated URL which allows for accepting or declining the communication of the own e-mail address (entered in step 212) to the second person. If the communication is accepted the system will send the e-mail address to the second person. This modification provides improved privacy for the second person.

In a further modification, once the second person has replied to the contact wish the first and the second person may communicate with each other using the system, without knowing each other's contact information until it is expressly exchanged (e. g. within the messages exchanged between the first and the second person). For that purpose, the contact information of both people, stored in the record will be used to forward information entered by one person to the other person.

Fig. 3 shows a data flow diagram relating to the inventive system. It shows a record 300 that is accessed using the internet by the first person 1 and the second person 2 in different phases of the process. It further shows a publicly accessible website 370.

The record 300 contains entries that are made publicly available on the website 370 (white rectangles) and entries that are not made publicly available (hatched rectangles). The first group contains time information 301 , location information 302 and circumstance information 303 (first person, second person, kind of the encounter etc.). The second group contains the indication 304 for contacting the first person 1 as well as the data provided by the second person 2, namely his or her contact information 31 1 as well as a message 312 to be transmitted to the first person 1.

The record 300 may contain additional information such as a token/URL or password that may be used by the first person to access the record for amending/deleting or for learning about responses.

The Figs. 4A, B show maps for selecting a meeting location by a user of a website of the inventive system. Fig. 4A shows a world map 401. The continent (Europe) where the user is assumed to be (currently) located is highlighted (hatched). The assumption of the user's location may be based on the user's IP address, a cookie that has been saved during an earlier session during which the user has entered his or her location, account information if the user has logged on the website or other information available to the system. The highlighting assists the user in quickly selecting the right location. However, the user is still free to choose any other continent, there is no need for backtracking when the assumption is not correct. Fig. 4B shows a map 402 of Europe as an example of a continent map. This map is shown when the user has confirmed that Europe was correct by clicking into the corresponding region of the world map 401. Again, the country in which the user is assumed to be located (Switzerland) is highlighted. The user is free to confirm Switzerland by clicking inside its boundaries or to choose another country by clicking into the respective boundaries. Fig. 5 shows a website dialog for entering a contact wish. Informative text that will be part of such a dialog is not shown in the Figure. The left hand side of the dialog comprises the following elements (from top to bottom): entry field 501 : for entering the country of the meeting, the choice of country from the preceding map screens (world map, map of Europe) is taken over into that field; entry field 502: for alphanumerically entering the city of the meeting;

alternatively, the city or region may be chosen in another map dialog similar to the ones shown in Fig. 4A, 4B, showing a map of the selected country; entry field 503: for alphanumencally entering the location of the meeting

(street/place, business such as store, restaurant etc.) entry field 504: for choosing the month of the meeting; the present month is initially displayed, the month to be chosen may be changed by means of two arrow buttons; entry field 505: for choosing the day of the month of the meeting; the entry field shows all days of the month chosen in entry field 504; the present day is initially highlighted, another day may be chosen by clicking on the corresponding number; entry field 506: for choosing the time of the meeting; the time may be selected in 15 min intervals by sliding a slider along the timeline. The right hand side of the dialog comprises the following elements (from top to bottom): entry field 51 1 : for alphanumencally entering a description of oneself (this entry field 51 1 may be complemented by an option for uploading a photo); entry field 512: for alphanumencally entering a description of the other person; entry field 513: for alphanumencally entering a description of the incident; entry field 521 : for entering one's e-mail address; verification field 522: for re-entering one's e-mail address for verification purposes; captcha field 531 : for entering a CAPTGHA code displayed in display field 532;

the CAPTCHA code aims at ensuring that the entry form is not used by a computer (such as e. g. an automated bot seeking to place spam advertising); confirmation button 540: for sending the form after completion.

After clicking the confirmation button 540 all the entered information (except e-mail validation and CAPTCHA code) is sent to the database and stored therein. If it is detected that crucial information (city, date, time, descriptions) is missing, the user is presented once more the dialog and asked to provide additional information.

Fig. 6 shows a website dialog for filtering records. Informative text that will be part of such a dialog is hot shown in the Figure. This dialog is used by a person that is looking for a specific contact wish. Most fields correspond to fields of the website dialog for entering the contact wish and therefore to the fields of the database records to be searched. This dialog is entered after the user has chosen the country using the maps shown in Figs. 4A, 4B as described above.

The left hand side of the dialog comprises the following elements (from top to bottom): entry field 604: for choosing the month of the meeting; the present month is initially displayed, the month to be chosen may be changed by means of two arrow buttons; entry field 605: for choosing the day of the month of the meeting; the entry field shows all days of the month chosen in entry field 604; the present day is initially highlighted, another day may be chosen by clicking on the corresponding number; entry field 607: for choosing a tolerance range of the day by means of a pulldown menu; in cases the user looking for a contact wish is not sure about the correct date, a date range (such as +/- 0 days, +/- 1 day, +/- 3 days, +/- 7 days) may be selected; entry field 606: for choosing a time range within which the meeting took place; the starting point and the end point of the range may be freely chosen by sliding two sliders along the timeline.

The right hand side of the dialog comprises the following elements (from top to bottom): entry field 601 : for entering the country of the meeting, the choice of country from the preceding map screens (world map, map of Europe) is taken over into that field; entry field 602: for alphanumerically entering the city of the meeting, filling in of that field may be supported by displaying all cities that are present in active database records and that match the starting letters of the city name already entered by the user in a pulldown menu; again, the city or region may be chosen in another map dialog similar to the ones shown in Fig. 4A, 4B, showing a map of the selected country; entry field 603: for alphanumerically entering the location of the meeting

(street/place, business such as store, restaurant etc.), again, filling in may be supported by proposing entries based on the corresponding field of the active database records; captcha field 631 : for entering a CAPTCHA code displayed in display field 632;

the CAPTCHA code aims at ensuring that the entry form is not used by a computer (such as e. g. an automated bot seeking to place spam advertising); confirmation button 640: for sending the form after completion.

After clicking the confirmation button 640 the database records are filtered using the provided information. All records matching all the criteria are displayed (see below, Fig. 7). If there is no match, a corresponding message is shown to the user. Fig. 7 is a website result list of filtered records. The publicly available fields of the records matching the filter criteria (see above, Fig. 6) are displayed in a table format. The columns of the table are (from left to right): "city", "date", "time", "situation". Right of these columns every line features a "reply" button. If a pointer is moved over one of the lines, the "situation" entry is highlighted and more detailed public information from the database record is shown adjacent to the line in a corresponding text field.

In cases where there are more matches than may be displayed simultaneously on a single web page the page may be scrolled down. Alternatively, more than one page may be generated and the user is provided with the possibility of browsing through the pages. Fig. 8 shows a website dialog for responding to a contact wish. The user is presented with that dialog once he or she has clicked on one of the "reply" buttons displayed in the list of filtered records (Fig. 7). The left hand side of the dialog features a number of display fields, namely: display field 701 : for displaying the country of the meeting; display field 702: for displaying the city of the meeting; display field 703: for displaying the location of the meeting; display field 708: for displaying the date and time of the meeting

(alphanumerically); display field 71 1 : for displaying the description of the user having posted the contact wish (this display field 71 1 may be complemented by a photo if available); display field 712: for displaying the description of the other (looked for) person; display field 713: for displaying the description of the incident.

The right hand side of the dialog features a number of entry fields, namely: entry field 751 : for entering a message to the poster of the contact wish; entry field 761 : for entering one's e-mail address; verification field 762: for re-entering one's e-mail address for verification purposes; captcha field 731 : for entering a CAPTCHA code displayed in display field 732;

the CAPTCHA code aims at ensuring that the entry form is not used by a computer (such as e. g. an automated bot seeking to place spam advertising); confirmation button 740: for sending the form after completion.

After clicking the confirmation button 740 the message and the e-mail address entered into entry fields 751 , 761 are stored in the database, within the record of the corresponding contact wish. Simultaneously, an e-mail is sent to the poster of the contact wish informing him or her about the reply as well as forwarding the e-mail address of the person who replied.

In an embodiment of the invention, a user entering the website providing the inventive services is first presented with a landing page allowing choosing essentially from the following options: "Enter", "Search" and "Guide". Both "Enter" and "Search" options first link to the world map for choosing a continent and after clicking on the desired region to the map of the given continent for choosing a country. After clicking on the desired country, the user aiming at entering a new contact wish ("Enter") is presented with the dialog described above, shown in Fig. 5. The user aiming at searching for contact wishes ("Search") is presented with the dialog described above, shown in Fig. 6. The option "Guide" relates to instructions for using the service.

The inventive services may be provided free of charge for the users and e. g. be funded by advertising. Alternatively, the inventive system may involve payment transactions (using credit cards, user accounts or services such as PayPal). Due to the fact that a wide accessibility is desired, in that case preferably costs are incurred only in the case a contact is established. E. g. after the second person enters his or her contact information the first person is informed about the reply (without providing the contact information yet). Only after a payment is effected the contact information is submitted to the first person. The invention is not restricted to the embodiment described. Within the inventive concept, the succession of method steps and the architecture of the inventive system may be adapted in various ways.

Furthermore, the system may provide various kinds of additional functionality. For example, when filtering records one or a plurality of text entry fields may be provided for entering keywords (such as "train", "hat", "glasses", "Nike shirt", etc.). Subsequently, only those records are displayed that match the entered keyword(s).

When entering the meeting information, a list of predefined keywords may be offered; applicable keywords may then be chosen by checking a corresponding checkbox. Furthermore, entering the meeting information may be graphically supported; as an example, the website may display a pictogram schematically depicting a person (the first person or the second person) and allowing for setting a number of characteristics of the first or second person (such as hair color, eye color, body height, types and colors of clothes and shoes, etc.) by clicking onto the respective part of the pictogram. This information may be converted to text (such as keywords) or it may be displayed to the second person entering the website in a similar graphic form. The provision of graphical support provides for a simplification of the entering of information; on the other hand the filtering is improved as it will result in a number of predetermined keywords.

In summary, it is to be noted that the invention provides for a system and method that employ technical means allowing for obtaining personal contact information of a person that has been met even when contact information has not been exchanged during the meeting.