Contact Disambiguation via Location Data Extraction
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing communications devices face challenges in disambiguating between contacts with the same name, as users may not recall telephone numbers, leading to delayed or frustrated communication attempts when typical disambiguation methods provide unnecessary telephone numbers rather than location information.
Innovation Solution
The system receives a name-based identifier via voice recognition, accesses a contacts list, and provides location information associated with matching contacts' telephone numbers, allowing users to differentiate between contacts by audible location instead of numbers, preserving the current user interface modality and accommodating various interface modalities and communications addresses.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If the device provides telephone numbers for disambiguation, then the device can identify the correct contact, but users who do not recall the telephone number experience frustration and delay
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the parameter of disambiguation information from telephone numbers to location information (geographic data, area codes, time zones). This transformation allows users to identify contacts based on familiar location cues rather than requiring recall of telephone numbers, thereby maintaining identification accuracy while improving user convenience
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces location information as an intermediary between the contact's telephone number and the user's identification process. Instead of directly presenting telephone numbers, the system uses location data (derived from area codes or geographic databases) as a mediating element that users can more easily associate with specific contacts, reducing frustration while achieving the same disambiguation goal
2Quantity of substance
If the device stores detailed contact information, then the contacts list is more comprehensive, but disambiguation becomes more complex when multiple contacts share the same name
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts location information from the comprehensive contact data and uses it specifically for disambiguation purposes. By separating the location attribute from the full contact record and presenting it independently during disambiguation, the system maintains comprehensive contact storage while simplifying the disambiguation interface to show only relevant location cues rather than all contact details
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies local quality by providing different types of information for different purposes: comprehensive contact information is stored for completeness, but only location-specific information is presented during disambiguation. This localized presentation of relevant attributes reduces the perceived complexity for the user while preserving the full contact database
3Adaptability or versatility
If the device uses text-to-speech to audibilize telephone numbers, then the user interface modality is preserved, but the information provided is less useful to users who do not recall numbers
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the parameter of the audible information from telephone numbers to location information. The text-to-speech modality is preserved, but the content being spoken is transformed from numerical telephone data to descriptive location data (cities, states, area codes), which maintains interface consistency while dramatically improving the usefulness of the information for user identification
Data Source
AI summary
These teachings provide for receiving from a user (via, for example, a voice-recognition component) a name-based identifier for an entity to be contacted via wireless communications and then using that name-based identifier to access a contacts list to identify a corresponding communications address to use when contacting the entity via the wireless communications. Upon determining that the contacts list includes at least two contacts having the same name-based identifier, these teachings then provide for providing to the user location information as pertains to at least one of the candidate contacts to thereby facilitate disambiguation.