Mobile Contact Auto-Complete via Server-Side Filtering
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Solution Overview
Problem
Mobile devices face limitations such as limited memory, processing power, and high data transmission costs, which hinder efficient operation of email applications, and their small screens and input devices make user interaction cumbersome.
Innovation Solution
A client-server system that optimizes email applications for mobile devices by downloading a subset of contacts, using auto-complete features, transcoding attachments, and customizing applications to conserve resources and improve user interface efficiency.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If the mobile device downloads a complete contact list from the server, then the user has access to all contacts, but the data transmission cost increases and memory consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts only the necessary subset of contact information from the complete contact list based on user context and application needs. The server identifies and transmits only the relevant contacts rather than the entire contact list, reducing data transmission costs while maintaining information availability for the specific task at hand.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary filtering of contacts on the server side before transmission. By pre-identifying and preparing the relevant subset of contacts based on predicted user needs, the system avoids transmitting unnecessary data, thereby reducing transmission costs while ensuring the required information is readily available when needed.
2Loss of information
If the mobile device displays all matching contacts, then the user can see all options, but the screen space is exceeded and user interface complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the list of matching contacts into multiple pages or groups, displaying a manageable number of contacts at a time on the screen. Users can navigate through the segmented display to access all matching contacts, thereby preserving complete information availability while respecting screen space constraints and maintaining a clean user interface.
3Loss of information
If the mobile device processes and stores all contacts locally, then the device has full contact access, but the memory consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system extracts and stores only the essential contact information locally on the mobile device, keeping the complete contact database on the server. This selective extraction approach allows the device to maintain access to necessary contact data while minimizing local memory consumption by storing only a subset of the full contact information.
4Ease of operation
If the mobile device uses a simple input method, then the ease of operation improves, but the input precision decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements an auto-complete feature that provides feedback to the user as they type. The system monitors the partial contact entry, identifies potential matches from the contact list, and presents suggestions to the user. This feedback mechanism allows users to input contact information easily with minimal typing while maintaining high accuracy through the system's intelligent completion suggestions.
Data Source
AI summary
Methods for implementing an auto-complete feature for contact entry on mobile devices are described. In some embodiments, a mobile device downloads from a server a number of contacts associated with a user, wherein the number of contacts is a subset of contacts in a contact list of the user. Upon receiving a partial contact entry from the user that includes a string of one or more characters, the mobile device identifies contacts from the downloaded contacts matching the partial entry. The mobile device displays no more than a preset number of matching contacts on the display of the mobile device at any one time, in a particular order, with an option for the user to display and fetch for more matching contacts. Other embodiments are also described.