Patent Application

App. No. 13/135,998

Abstract

Claims (53)

1 . A method for determining a network relationship between a mobile device and a contact stored in the mobile device, comprising:

associating a mobile device with a network;

transmitting a request from the mobile device for a set of contact devices in a contact list of the mobile device that are in the network;

generating a set of contact devices that includes at least one contact device identified as being in the network; and

modifying a contact element corresponding to the identified contact device to indicate that the identified contact is in the network.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein generating the set of contact devices comprises:

registering a set of users of the network with a server;

determining by the server whether the users are currently active in the network; and

comparing the users currently active in the network and the contacts in the contact list sent with the request.

3 . The method of claim 2 , further comprising:

determining by the server whether the users include electronic devices having an application that is the same as an application of the mobile device; and

displaying at the mobile device a set of contact devices identified as having the same application as the mobile device.

4 . The method of claim 3 , further comprising:

activating the application at the mobile device;

determining if the at least one contact device is using the application; and

exchanging a communication between the mobile device and the at least one contact device via the application.

5 . The method of claim 4 , wherein the application is a context-aware application.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the network is at least one of a WiFi network, a Picocell network, a PBX cluster, and a coverage region of a carrier network.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein modifying the contact element comprises:

activating a frame corresponding to the contact element; and

displaying an indicator having a color to indicate whether the identified contact is in the network.

8 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the indicator includes a frame and wherein modifying the contact element includes displaying the frame having a first color when the contact is identified as being in the network.

9 . The method of claim 8 , wherein modifying a contact element includes displaying the frame to have a second color that is different from the first color when the contact is identified as out of the network.

10 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

assigning a default color to the network; and

modifying the contact element to have a same color as the default color assigned to the network.

11 . The method of claim 10 , further comprising configuring an access point list application to assign the default color to the network.

12 . A mobile device comprising:

a wireless transmitter;

a wireless receiver;

a processor;

a computer readable storage medium in communication with the processor, the memory having computer readable program code embodied therewith that is executable by the processor, the computer readable program code comprising;

computer readable program code configured to store a contact list;

computer readable program code configured to transmit a request from the wireless transmitter for a set of contact devices in a contact list that are in a same network as the mobile device;

computer readable program code configured to receive via the wireless receiver at least one contact device identified as being at the same network as the mobile device; and

computer readable program code configured to modify a contact element corresponding to the identified contact device to indicate that the identified contact is in the same network as the mobile device.

13 . The mobile device of claim 12 , wherein the mobile device communicates via at least one of the wireless transmitter and the wireless receiver with a WiFi network, a Picocell network, a PBX cluster, or a coverage region of a carrier network.

14 . The mobile device of claim 12 , wherein said computer readable program code when executed by the processor activates a frame corresponding to of the contact element and displays the frame having a color to indicate whether the identified contact is in the network.

15 . The mobile device of claim 14 , wherein the computer readable program code when executed by the processor modifies the contact element by displaying the frame having a first color when the contact is identified as being in the network and displaying the frame to have a second color that is different from the first color when the contact is identified as out of the network.

16 . The mobile device of claim 12 , wherein the computer readable program code when executed by the processor assigns a default color to the network and modifies the contact element to have a same color as the default color assigned to the network.

17 . The mobile device of claim 12 , further comprising:

computer readable program code configured to determine whether the contact devices in the contact list have a same application as the mobile device; and

computer readable program code configured to display a set of contact devices identified as having the same application as the mobile device.

18 . The mobile device of claim 17 , wherein the application is a context-aware application, and wherein the computer readable program code when executed by the processor activates the context-aware application at the mobile device, determines if the at least one contact device is using the application, and exchanges a communication between the mobile device and the at least one contact device via the application.

19 . A method for associating mobile device contacts with a local network, comprising:

opening a contact list in the mobile device;

generating a request for contacts in the contact list who are in a local network;

determining a first set of contacts who are in the local network and a second set of contacts who are not in the local network;

modifying a contact indicator for each of the first set of contacts according to a first visual representation to identify the first set of contacts as being in the local network; and

modifying a contact indicator for each of the second set of contacts according to a second visual representation to identify the second set of contacts as not being in the local network.

20 . The method of claim 19 , wherein modifying the contact indicator comprises:

activating a frame corresponding to the contact indicator; and

displaying the frame having a color to indicate whether a contact in the contact list is in the local network.

Assignments (9)