Patents by Inventor Joseph Kirk Ollis

Joseph Kirk Ollis has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 8478837
    Abstract: The present invention provides a method and system for providing a mobile device with a selected subset of global address list (GAL) contacts. The offline GAL contacts stored on the device are in sync with the master corporate GAL. The GAL contacts are automatically selected based on the user's emails or meetings and are not duplicates of the contacts within the user's personal contact list. The GAL contacts are browsed and searched seamlessly with the user's other contacts.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 28, 2004
    Date of Patent: July 2, 2013
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Joseph Kirk Ollis, David W. Flynt, Jon Xu, Marc W. Todd
  • Publication number: 20110296349
    Abstract: The present invention provides a method and system of displaying items that gives the user the ability to easily access recently accessed items. The recent items list includes both incoming and outgoing correspondences that are attempted to be matched to the corresponding contact stored in the device. The user can access the recent contact list and reply using any communication method available. For instance, the user could reply by phone, email, send an instant messenger message, send an SMS message, and the like. The recent items list may also include items such as communications, contacts, folder, files, messages, applications, and the like. A coalesced list of the recently used items is shown so that an item is only shown once in the recent list. Any matched item in the recent list may also be shown in the alphabetical list that appears below the recent list.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 29, 2011
    Publication date: December 1, 2011
    Applicant: MICROSOFT CORPORATION
    Inventors: Marc W. Todd, Darron Jack Stepanich, David W. Flynt, Joseph Kirk Ollis, Henry Chen
  • Patent number: 8001120
    Abstract: The present invention provides a method and system of displaying items that gives the user the ability to easily access recently accessed items. The recent items list includes both incoming and outgoing correspondences that are attempted to be matched to the corresponding contact stored in the device. The user can access the recent contact list and reply using any communication method available. For instance, the user could reply by phone, email, send an instant messenger message, send an SMS message, and the like. The recent items list may also include items such as communications, contacts, folder, files, messages, applications, and the like. A coalesced list of the recently used items is shown so that an item is only shown once in the recent list. Any matched item in the recent list may also be shown in the alphabetical list that appears below the recent list.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 12, 2004
    Date of Patent: August 16, 2011
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Marc W. Todd, Darron Jack Stepanich, David W. Flynt, Joseph Kirk Ollis, Henry Chen
  • Patent number: 7493567
    Abstract: The present invention provides a method and system of pinning and displaying pinned items. Pinned items are displayed such that they are visually distinguishable and prioritized higher than related non-pinned items. For example, pinned contacts are displayed at the top of the contact list and are visually distinguishable from the other contacts. A special icon is used to show an item that is “pinned.” contact. A pinned item is a copy of a contact. The copy helps a user quickly access the items they most commonly communicate with and use and provides an importance to an item.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 28, 2004
    Date of Patent: February 17, 2009
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Joseph Kirk Ollis, Darron Jack Stepanich, Marc W. Todd, David W. Flynt, Henry Chen