WO2006019941A2

WO2006019941A2 - Method and system for transferring content to a communication device

Info

Publication number: WO2006019941A2
Application number: PCT/US2005/025039
Authority: WO
Inventors: Steve Leroux; Christian Gloddy; Iii. John B. Geagan
Original assignee: Vazu, Inc.
Priority date: 2004-07-15
Filing date: 2005-07-13
Publication date: 2006-02-23
Also published as: WO2006019941A3

Abstract

An electronic document (e.g., a Web page served by a Web server 110) is automatically parsed for desired information (e.g., contact information such as a telephone number) and that information is marked or otherwise designated to show that it is transferable to a communication device (e.g., a mobile phone 102) or other location. Upon request of user (106), the information is so transferred via a transfer agent (104), which formats the content appropriately for the chosen destination, using an appropriate network or other communication means.

Description

METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR TRANSFERRING CONTENT TO A COMMUNICATION

DEVICE

RELATED APPLICATION

[0001] This application is related to and hereby claims the priority benefit of U.S.

Provisional Application No. 60/588,509, filed July 15, 2004, entitled "Method and System for Transferring Content to a Communication Device", incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0002] The present invention relates generally to systems and methods for transferring content from electronic documents to designated destinations (e.g., communication devices) in formats acceptable for use at such destinations.

BACKGROUND

[0003] Many people today have access to on-line information via a personal computer or other Web-enabled device and also own a cell phone or personal digital assistant (PDA). With the increasing number of people owning multiple such devices the problem becomes one of how to easily exchange content (e.g., contact information such as names and telephone numbers) between these devices and/or other destinations. Even though several methods for such content exchanges exist today, most require users to either enter the information manually (at least once), for example in an address book or contact list, and/or utilize specialized hardware and/or software.

[0004] For example if a person is browsing the Web to reserve a hotel for an upcoming vacation, once she receives a confirmation on a web page or by email she then has to print it out or enter the hotel contact information and confirmation number manually into her phone or PDA. In the alternative, information can be uploaded to her phone or PDA from her PC via a serial cable, or an infrared or Bluetooth connection. Each of these methods requires that the subscriber own a PC with the appropriate interface and purchase and install the appropriate software on the PC. The information would have to be manually entered into the software program (typically in an address book) before the information could be sent to a device. This is expensive, complex, time intensive and not all PC-phone combinations are supported. [0005] Other methods for transferring contact information do exist. Many phones produced today support a format for exchanging contact information known as a vcard (for "virtual business card"). The most common example of the use of vcards is the direct phone-to- phone exchange of contact information either via short range infrared connection or through the wireless network(s) used by the mobile phones. The receiver's phone alerts her that a contact has been received and offers the choice to view, save, or discard the contact. Additionally, many commercial e-mail applications, such as Micorosff s Outlook™ and Outlook Express™, and Apple's Mail™, support the sending and receiving of contact information via vcards. These applications allow users to select contacts from within their address books to send to others as vcards as well as to receive contacts sent from others as vcards and then save them in the application's contact list.

[0006] When a user sends a vcard through a mobile phone operator's network, the vcard is transmitted from one phone to the other as a specially coded SMS (short message service) message. In particular, a vcard is transmitted as an SMS message with a special tag that alerts the receiving phone that the SMS message should be treated as a vcard. It should be noted that in many cases the vcard is formatted in a vendor-specific manner, limiting the exchange of vcards only between like makes and/or models of phones.

[0007] Of course, before the vcard is ever sent as a contact to one's mobile phone, the contact information must first be saved by the sender. A number of methods exist for storing contacts in phones and other devices, the most common of which is the manual entry of the name and number using a keypad. Because this method is so tedious, however, it tends to limit the number of contacts people are willing to store. [OQOS] A newer method for storing contacts in a phone is based on the syncML and

GPRS (general packet radio service — a non-voice value added service that allows information to be sent and received across a mobile telephone network) industry standards. SyncML is an Extensible Markup Language (XML) protocol under development as an open standard for the universal synchronization of data between devices. This solution for storing contact information works only if the user has a mobile phone that supports both syncML and GPRS, and contracts with a network operator that offers GPRS services. Even then, this solution only provides for synchronizing information between devices (such as syncing an address book from a PC to a PDA), and does not support the sending of any type of desired content to a communications device or other destination. As with all syncronizing solutions, some initial manual entry of the contact information (e.g., either at the computer or PDA) is required.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0009] In one embodiment of the present invention an electronic document (e.g., a Web page) is automatically parsed for desired information (e.g., contact information such as a telephone number) and that information is marked or otherwise designated to show that it is transferable to a communication device (e.g., a mobile phone) or other location. Upon user request, the information is so transferred via a transfer agent, which formats the content appropriately for the chosen destination, using an appropriate network or other communication means.

[0010] Further embodiments of the invention provide a computer-implemented process for automatically transferring to a designated communication device and in a format configured for automated entry into an electronic contact list maintained at said communication device designated information extracted from an electronic document. Such information may include: contact information, driving directions, maps, photographs, and/or music. Where appropriate, the designated information may be determined by searching the electronic document for a pattern of digits organized in a fashion that corresponds to a format used to represent a telephone number, and the telephone number may then used as an anchor to search surrounding text within the electronic document for names and addresses.

[0011] A further aspect of the present invention is the capability of automatically identifying information (e.g., contact information such as a phone number, etc.) contained in an electronic document and marking the information as being transferable to a communication device. Such a transfer may include modifying the format of the information so as to be compatible for reception at the communication device.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0012] The present invention is illustrated by way of example, and not limitation, in the figures of the accompanying drawings in which:

[0013] Figure 1 illustrates an example of a process for transferring desired information from a Web page to a communication device or other destination, according to one embodiment of the present invention;

[0014] Figure 2 is a block diagram showing an example of a communication system for transferring contact information to a wireless device or other destination according to one embodiment of the present invention; and

[0015] Figure 3 illustrates an example of a computer architecture that may be used for a client or server according to one embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0016] Methods and systems for transferring content to a communication device or other destination are described. In one embodiment, electronic content (such as a Web page) is parsed for desired information and the desired information is marked (e.g., by highlighting, use of an icon, or otherwise) to show that it is transferable to a communication device or other destination. Upon receipt of an appropriate user input (e.g., selection of the icon or a keystroke or other command) a transfer request along with the information to be transferred is sent (e.g., via an http Post) to a transfer agent, which formats the information appropriately for the chosen destination and then transfers the formatted information thereto.

[0017] In the following description, for purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. It will be evident, however, to one skilled in the art that the present invention may be practiced without these specific details. In some instances, well-known structures and devices are shown in block diagram form, rather than in detail, in order to avoid obscuring the present invention. These embodiments are described in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice the invention, and it is to be understood that other embodiments may be utilized and that logical, mechanical, electrical, and other changes may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.

[0018] Some portions of the detailed descriptions that follow are presented in terms of algorithms and symbolic representations of operations on data bits within a computer memory. These algorithmic descriptions and representations are the means used by those skilled in the data processing arts to most effectively convey the substance of their work to others skilled in the art. An algorithm is here, and generally, conceived to be a self-consistent sequence of acts leading to a desired result. The acts are those requiring physical manipulations of physical quantities. Usually, though not necessarily, these quantities take the form of electrical or magnetic signals capable of being stored, transferred, combined, compared, and otherwise manipulated. It has proven convenient at times, principally for reasons of common usage, to refer to these signals as bits, values, elements, symbols, characters, terms, numbers, or the like. [0019] It should be borne in mind, however, that all of these and similar terms are to be associated with the appropriate physical quantities and are merely convenient labels applied to these quantities. Unless specifically stated otherwise as apparent from the following discussion, it is appreciated that throughout the description, discussions utilizing terms such as "processing" or "computing" or "calculating" or "determining" or "displaying" or the like, refer to the action and processes of a computer system, or similar electronic computing device, that manipulates and transforms data represented as physical (electronic) quantities within the computer system's registers and memories into other data similarly represented as physical quantities within the computer system memories or registers or other such information storage, transmission or display devices.

[0020] The present invention can be implemented by an apparatus for performing the operations described herein. This apparatus may be specially constructed for the required purposes, or it may comprise a general-purpose computer, selectively activated or reconfigured by a computer program stored in the computer. Such a computer program may be stored in a computer readable storage medium, such as, but not limited to, any type of disk including floppy disks, optical disks, CD-ROMs, and magnetic-optical disks, read-only memories (ROMs), random access memories (RAMs), EPROMs, EEPROMs, magnetic or optical cards, or any type of media suitable for storing electronic instructions, and each coupled to a computer system bus. [0021] The algorithms and displays presented herein are not inherently related to any particular computer or other apparatus. Various general-purpose systems may be used with programs in accordance with the teachings herein, or it may prove convenient to construct more specialized apparatus to perform the required method. For example, any of the methods according to the present invention can be implemented in hard-wired circuitry, by programming a general-purpose processor or by any combination of hardware and software. One of skill in the art will immediately appreciate that the invention can be practiced with computer system configurations other than those described below, including hand-held devices, multiprocessor systems, microprocessor-based or programmable consumer electronics, DSP devices, network PCs, minicomputers, mainframe computers, and the like. The invention can also be practiced in distributed computing environments where tasks are performed by remote processing devices that are linked through a communications network. The required structure for a variety of these systems will appear from the description below.

[0022] The methods of the invention may be implemented using computer software. If written in a programming language conforming to a recognized standard, sequences of instructions designed to implement the methods can be compiled for execution on a variety of hardware platforms and for interface to a variety of operating systems. In addition, the present invention is not described with reference to any particular programming language. It will be appreciated that a variety of programming languages may be used to implement the teachings of the invention as described herein. Furthermore, it is common in the art to speak of software, in one form or another (e.g., program, procedure, application, etc.), as taking an action or causing a result. Such expressions are merely a shorthand way of saying that execution of the software by a computer causes the processor of the computer to perform an action or produce a result. [0023] It is to be understood that various terms and techniques are used by those knowledgeable in the art to describe communications, protocols, applications, implementations, mechanisms, etc. One such technique is the description of an implementation of a technique in terms of an algorithm or mathematical expression. That is, while the technique may be, for example, implemented as executing code on a computer, the expression of that technique may be more aptly and succinctly conveyed and communicated as a formula, algorithm, or mathematical expression. Thus, one skilled in the art would recognize a block denoting A + B = C as an additive function whose implementation in hardware and/or software would take two inputs (A and B) and produce a summation output (C). Thus, the use of formula, algorithm, or mathematical expression as descriptions is to be understood as having a physical embodiment in at least hardware and/or software (such as a computer system in which the techniques of the present invention may be practiced as well as implemented as an embodiment). [0024] A machine-readable medium is understood to include any mechanism for storing or transmitting information in a form readable by a machine (e.g., a computer). For example, a machine-readable medium includes read only memory (ROM); random access memory (RAM); magnetic disk storage media; optical storage media; flash memory devices; electrical, optical, acoustical or other form of propagated signals (e.g., carrier waves, infrared signals, digital signals, etc.); etc. [0025] One embodiment of the present invention may be implemented as computer software incorporated as part of a Web browser. The system operates with a computer system using a Windows™, Macintosh™, UNIX™, Linux or other operating system equipped with a Web browser application, or other Web-enabled device capable of connecting to the Internet or other network system. It should be noted that the term "Internet" is intended to encompass similar systems and nomenclature (i.e., World Wide Web or "www") comprising the capability to communicate and access information through a network, telephone connections, ISDN connections, DSL connections, cable modem, fiber optic network, etc. The present invention should not be limited in its communication nomenclature; the present invention is applicable to any system that is accessible by means of a Web browser. References herein to the "Web" are meant to refer to the World Wide Web, which is generally understood to be a user interface for the Internet, a global network of computer networks.

[0026] Referring first to FIGURE 1, a process 100 for transferring desired information from a Web page to a mobile phone 102 is illustrated. It should be noted that although this example refers specifically to the transfer of contact information to a mobile phone, the same or similar techniques might be used to transfer any desired content from a Web page or similar construct to any device capable of receiving such content. For example, information such as driving directions, maps, etc. may be transferred to PDAs or even to vehicles having computer systems capable of receiving transmissions of such information (e.g., via wireless phone networks or other communication means). Many vehicles are now equipped with mobile telephones or radiotelephones that provide communication between the vehicle occupants and various service providers. Such communication channels offer environments suitable for the communication of the information described herein.

[0027] Before examining the present example in detail, consider a situation where a user is browsing the Internet looking for a particular business (e.g., a restaurant). Often, once the Web page for the business is located, the user will look for contact information such as a telephone number and/or address. Assuming the user will have a need to contact that business more than once, the user will likely need to record the contact information in some location, such as an electronic address book. Using conventional means, this will necessarily involve manual entry of the contact information in the address book, or at a minimum performing one or more "cut and paste" operations to copy the information into the address book in the appropriate fields. If the user then wants to disseminate this information to other locations or devices, further manual operations or synchronizing operations such as those described above are required.

[0028] The present invention eliminates the need for these procedures. Rather than having to manually copy the contact or other desired information, this time when the user receives 122 the Web page in response to a request 120 to a Web server 110, prior to or during the display of the Web page, it is parsed for desired information. Often the Web page will include contact information, photographs, music, or other interesting information that a user may want to transfer to a communication device or other destination. In various embodiments of the present invention, the user may be permitted to specify the nature and/or type of information that should be detected during this parsing operation.

[0029] The page may be parsed by any variety of conventional methods to parse content.

Where the desired information is contact information, one example is to search the content in the Web page for an easy to find piece of information such as a phone number by looking for a pattern of digits separated by dashes such as, ddd-ddd-dddd. More generally, items such as phone numbers may be identified by one or more of: a series of digits separated by dashes; a series of digits separated by dots; a series of digits separated by spaces; a series of digits separated, wholly or partially, by parentheses; a series of digits separated by slashes; a plus sign (e.g., as is often used before a country code to indicate the need for dialing an international access code) preceding a series of digits; an absence of separations in a string of numbers; or separation of a string of numbers in certain groupings (for example, in the United States the grouping is 3 3 4 as in 408-723-1234 while France it is 1 2 2 2 2, as in 4 90 92 13 07). Any information that corresponds to any of these formats can be marked as a phone number. This phone number can then be used as an anchor to search the surrounding text for names, addresses, or other information related thereto. Of course, other common formats for such information may also be so recognized.

[0030] A particular pattern can be associated with a particular Web page address. Again using contact information as an example, a particular Web page may always list contact information in a particular format, such as the phone number first, followed by the name and address. So when a user is viewing that particular Web page, the pattern associated with that Web address could be used to detect and extract the contact information. [0031] Once the content of the Web page has been parsed and the desired information detected, the desired information is marked to indicate to the user that the content is transferable to a device or online destination. This marking may be performed in any of a variety of ways, but in one example the Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) used to display the page may be modified to display an icon or button in the vicinity of the desired information, or a hyperlink may be created and rendered coincidentally with the desired information. [0032] In an alternative embodiment, no parsing of the Web page is needed. Instead, a button or menu item could be added to a toolbar of the Web browser or as a menu item in a drop down menu. This button or menu item may be configured to provide the user with a means to transfer desired information to a communication device or other destination. Thus, the user could simply select (e.g., using conventional mouse commands) desired information on the web page as rendered in the browser, invoke the command represented by the button or menu item, and thereby indicate that the selected content should be transferred to a designated device or location. A hybrid approach would allow for a combination of the above techniques. That is, the parsing operation could be used to preselect certain information, which could be transferred in response to the user invoking a command represented by a menu item or button. [0033] Assuming, however, that the browser is configured (e.g., through the use of a plug in) to mark the desired content when rendering the Web page (e.g., by displaying an appropriate icon), the page as marked will be so rendered. In one embodiment, contact information displayed on the Web page may be accompanied by a small icon representing a mobile phone, thus indicating that by selecting the icon the user can automatically transfer the contact information (e.g., the name of the business and the phone number) to his/her mobile phone. [0034] If the user so desires, he/she may select the icon (or in other embodiments select the button or menu commands or perform a right click or other mouse operation to select an appropriate command from a cursor menu). Doing so acts as an indication to the computer system that the contact information should be transferred to another location. [0035] Once a user selects 124 the content to be transferred, any of several actions may occur. In one embodiment, the contact information that was highlighted either by the parsing operation or by the user is transferred automatically to a transfer agent 104 without further user action being required. This may be done, for example, where the user has preconfϊgured the present software agent with information regarding the location to which the selected information should be sent. For example, the user may have preconfigured the software agent to send the information to a designated mobile phone. In such a case the user may have provided configuration details such as the phone number and, perhaps, the phone model and carrier network. In some cases, the serial number of the mobile phone may also be used. Such information is useful for the transfer agent in determining the proper format (e.g., v-card or other format) for the information to be transferred. In other cases, this format may be discovered through a test message process.

[0036] In other embodiments the user may be prompted for certain information such as a login name/password (e.g., as may be established at the time the user subscribes to or otherwise establishes the service described herein), so as to ensure that only authorized users are permitted to send information to a mobile phone or other location. Inasmuch as most carriers charge for such transmissions, this may deter unauthorized charges from being assigned to the user. [0037] In general then, the user may send a request 126 to transfer agent 104 (which could be a Web server) to transfer the desired information from the Web page to one or more particular devices or destinations. This request can be sent via any method used to communicate between a client and server, such as via Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (https) communication protocol. In one embodiment an http POST command is used. Where the user has previously indicated more than one device/ destination to which content may be sent, the user may be prompted to select one or more desired locations to which the currently selected content is to be transferred.

[0038] Ultimately, transfer agent 104 receives the request along with the selected information from the Web page and formats this information into the appropriate format for the device or destination to which it is to be transferred. For example, contact information may be formatted as a v-card or a text message to be sent to a wireless device such as a mobile phone. Once this formatting has been done, the transfer agent 104 sends 128 the properly formatted content to the destination device(s) 102. The user may be notified 130 of a successful transfer. [0039] Referring now to FIGUEE 2, a block diagram of a communication system for transferring contact information to a wireless device or other destination is shown. In this example, one or more wireless devices (e.g., mobile phones, mobile personal computers, handheld computing devices, two-way radios, two-way pagers, PDAs, etc.) 104a - 104d are in proximity to wireless communication towers 140a— 140d. These wireless devices may include Web browsers or similar software applications configured to communicate with a server over a wireless network using the radio hardware and infrastructure of the wireless network service provider (e.g. Cingular™, AT&T™, etc.). The wireless communication towers transmit and receive information to and from the wireless devices and/or service provider center 142. Communicatively coupled to the service provider center 142 is SMS center 137 (SMSC) that processes SMS messages received from the wireless devices 104a - 104d and a Web server 146 (which in this example acts as the transfer agent discussed above). The Web server 146is communicatively coupled to the service provider center 142 via a network 148, which may be any form of communication network including (but not limited to) a local area network (LAN) and/or a larger network (e.g., the Internet). Alternative communication channels such as wireless communication via satellite broadcast (not shown) are also contemplated within the scope of the present invention. In this way, the wireless devices 104 a — 104d may communicate with the Web server (i.e., transfer agent) 146.

[0040] In general, wired network components of a communication system such as that described above can be implemented, in part, using conventional telephone network connections (e.g., as provided through an Internet service provider) to enable data communication over the Internet. This use of the Internet as a distribution network is well known to those of ordinary skill in the art. Alternatively, or in addition, communications over conventional cable networks (e.g., using cable modems and the like) is possible. Such cable networks are typically much faster (i.e., they provide greater bandwidth) than conventional telephone networks; however, cable modems are typically more expensive than POTS (plain old telephone system) modems. Further, conventional Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) networks (which are also typically faster than POTS network) may also be used.

[0041] Wireless network components of the communication system may likewise be implemented in a variety of ways. Examples of wireless networks within which the present invention may be implemented include Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) networks, Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) networks, Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) networks, Cellular Digital Packet Data (CDPD) networks, and Integrated Digital Enhanced Network (iDEN) networks, etc.

[0042] Web server 146 sends data to and receives data from wireless devices 104a — 104d as well as other Web browser and e-mail clients, such as client 150 (which in this example may be the Web browser from which the request to transmit selected information from a Web page is received), which is also communicatively coupled to network 148. One or more databases 152, accessible by Web server 146, may be used to store/retrieve user preference information (e.g., wireless device phone numbers, cellular service providers, wireless device makes and models, e- mail addresses, and other destination preference) concerning destinations to which information is to be sent in response to requests received from client 150. The destination preference can be a wireless device or another destination such as a web-based contact list or an e-mail application contact list (e.g., Microsoft Outlook Contacts, Apple Address Book, etc.). Having access to such information then (as well as user account information, etc. which may be stored by Web server 146 and/or database 152), upon receipt of a transfer request from client 150 Web server 146 formats the designated information into an appropriate format (e.g., v-card) for the target wireless device or other destination and transmits that properly formatted information thereto using the above-described communication system. In other cases, the selected information may have been transmitted from one wireless device for transfer to another wireless device. In such cases the information may be extracted using Wireless Markup Language (WML), or Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML) calls.

[0043] A mobile communication device may interact with Web server 146 using various different communication devices and/or protocols, for example the Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) or SMS messages. In one embodiment of the present invention, a mobile communication device communicates with Web server 146 via client software, which may include a browser application such as a WAP Micro Browser installed in a mobile telephone, or Netscape Navigator™ or Microsoft Internet Explorer™ installed on a personal computer, via the Hypertext Transport Protocol (http).

[0044] Referring now to FIGURE 3, a computer system 200, which may represent a client device and/or server (e.g., Web server 146), in which elements of the present invention may be implemented will now be described. One embodiment of computer system 200 includes a system bus 220 for communicating information, and a processor 210 coupled to bus 220 for processing information. Computer system 200 further includes a random access memory (RAM) or other dynamic storage device 225 (referred to herein as main memory), coupled to bus 220 for storing information and instructions to be executed by processor 210. Main memory 225 also may be used for storing temporary variables or other intermediate information during execution of instructions by processor 210. Computer system 200 also may include a read only memory (ROM) and/or other static storage device 226 coupled to bus 220 for storing static information and instructions used by processor 210. [0045] A data storage device 227 such as a magnetic disk or optical disc and its corresponding drive may also be coupled to computer system 200 for stoπng information and instructions. Computer system 200 can also be coupled to a second FO bus 250 via an I/O interface 230. A plurality of I/O devices may be coupled to VO bus 250, including a display device 243, an input device (e.g., an alphanumeric input device 242 and/or a cursor control device 241). For example, video news clips and related information may be presented to the user on the display device 243.

[0046] The communication device 240 is for accessing other computers (servers or clients) via a network 171. The communication device 240 may compπse a modem, a network interface card, or other well-known interface device, such as those used for coupling to Ethernet, token ring, or other types of networks.

[0047] Thus, methods and apparatus for transferring content such as contact information of communications devices and the like have been described. In the foregoing specification, the invention has been described with reference to specific embodiments. It will, however, be evident that various modifications and changes can be made without departing from the broader spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the claims. For example, the discussion of extracting or otherwise selecting or designating information from Web pages for transfer to mobile phones and the like is equally applicable to any electronic content (e.g , word processor- created documents, spreadsheets, presentations, e-mail communications, etc., collectively "electronic document"). The specification and drawings are, accordingly, to be regarded m an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense.

Claims

CLAIMSWhat is claimed is:

1. A computer-implemented process, comprising automatically transferring to a designated communication device and in a format configured for automated entry into an electronic contact list maintained at said communication device, designated information extracted from an electronic document.

2. The computer-implemented process of claim 1 wherein the designated information extracted from the electronic document comprises one or more of: contact information, driving directions, maps, photographs, or music.

3. The computer-implemented process of claim 1 wherein the designated information is determined by searching the electronic document for a pattern of digits organized in a fashion that corresponds to a format used to represent a telephone number.

4. The computer-implemented process of claim 3 wherein the telephone number is then used as an anchor to search surrounding text within the electronic document for names and addresses.

5. The computer-implemented process of claim 1 wherein the electronic document comprises one of: a word processor-created document, a spreadsheet, a presentation, an e-mail communication, or a Web page.

6. The computer-implemented process of claim 1 wherein the electronic document comprises a Web page having a known layout associated with an address of the Web page.

7. The computer-implemented process of claim 6 wherein the layout of the Web page is used as a guide to detect and extract the designated information from the Web page.

8. The computer-implemented process of claim 1 wherein the communication device comprises one of: a wireless phone, a personal computer, or a PDA.

9. The computer-implemented process of claim 1 wherein the designated information is transferred to the designated communication device via a communication network which comprises one or more of: a wireless communication network, a cellular communication network, a LAN, a WAN, Internet, a telephone network, an ISDN network, or a cable network.

10. The computer-implemented process of claim 9 wherein the wireless communication network comprises one or more of: a GSM-based network, a CDMA-based network, a TDMA- based network, a CDPD-based network, or an iDEN-based network.

11. A computer-implemented process, comprising automatically transferring to a designated destination and in a format configured for transfer to said destination, designated information automatically extracted from an electronic document as part of a rendering of said electronic document.

12. The computer-implemented process of claim 11 wherein the designated information comprises one or more of: contact information, driving directions, maps, photographs, or music.

13. The computer-implemented process of claim 11 wherein the designated information is identified by searching the electronic document for information identifiable by its format.

14. The computer-implemented process of claim 13 wherein the designated information comprises a phone number.

15. The computer-implemented process of claim 14 wherein the phone number is used as an anchor to search surrounding text for names and addresses.

16 The computer-implemented process of claim 11 wherein the electronic document compπses one of: a word processor-created document, a spreadsheet, a presentation, an e-mail communication, or a Web page

17. The computer-implemented process of claim 11 wherein the electronic document comprises a Web page having a known layout associated with an address of the Web page.

18. The computer-implemented process of claim 17 wherein the layout of the Web page is used as a guide to detect and extract the designated information from the Web page.

19. The computer-implemented process of claim 11 wherein the destination compπses one of: a wireless phone, a personal computer, a PDA, an electronic address book, an email address, or a Web page.

20. The computer-implemented process of claim 11 wherein the designated information is transferred to the destination via a communication network which comprises one or more of: a wireless communication network, a cellular communication network, a LAN, a WAN, Internet, a telephone network, ISDN, or a cable network.

21. The computer-implemented process of claim 20 wherein the wireless communication network comprises one or more of: a GSM-based network, a CDMA-based network, a TDMA- based network, a CDPD-based network, or an iDEN-based network.

22. The computer-implemented process of claim 11 wherein the device comprises one or more of: a wireless phone, a personal computer, or a PDA.

23. A computer-implemented process, comprising automatically identifying contact information m an electronic document and rendeπng the electronic document.

24. The computer-implemented process of claim 23 wherein the electronic document compπses one of: a word processor-created document, a spreadsheet, a presentation, an e-mail communication, or a Web page.

25. The computer-implemented process of claim 24 wherein the contact information comprises a name, an address, and a phone number.

26. The computer-implemented process of claim 25 wherein automatically identifying contact information comprises searching the electronic document for the phone number identifiable by one or more of: a series of digits separated by dashes; a series of digits separated by dots; a series of digits separated by spaces; a series of digits separated, wholly or partially, by parentheses; a series of digits separated by slashes; a plus sign preceding a series of digits; an absence of separations in a string of numbers; or separation of a string of numbers in certain groupings.

27. The computer-implemented process of claim 26 wherein the phone number is used as an anchor to search surrounding text for the name and address.

28. A computer-implemented process, comprising automatically identifying information contained in an electronic document and marking the information as being transferable to a communication device.

29. The computer-implemented process of claim 28 wherein identifying the information comprises searching the electronic document for information corresponding to a predetermined format.

30. The computer-implemented process of claim 29 wherein a phone number is identified by one or more of: a series of digits separated by dashes; a series of digits separated by dots; a series of digits separated by spaces; a series of digits separated, wholly or partially, by parentheses; a series of digits separated by slashes; a plus sign preceding a series of digits; an absence of separations in a string of numbers; or separation of a string of numbers in certain groupings.

31. The computer-implemented process of claim 30 wherein the phone number is used as an anchor to search surrounding text for names, addresses, or other related information.

32. The computer-implemented process of claim 28 wherein marking the information comprises modifying the electronic document such that when the electronic document is displayed a graphical element not formerly associated with the electronic document is concurrently displayed nearby the information.

33. The computer-implemented process of claim 28 wherein marking the information comprises modifying the electronic document such that when the electronic document is displayed a hyperlink is associated with the information.

34. The computer-implemented process of claim 30 wherein the information is marked through user manipulation of one of: a button of a toolbar, or a menu item.