System, method, and apparatus for common contact management

A method for contact management, the method comprising:

• an application that is running on an initiator device receiving a recipient phone number, the recipient phone number associated with a recipient device;
• responsive to the application receiving the recipient phone number, the application sending a transaction to a server, the transaction comprising the recipient phone number, the server having access to a plurality of contact records, each contact record comprising fields including at least a phone number field, the plurality of contact records including an initiator contact record that is associated with the initiator device;
• responsive to receiving the transaction, software running on the server sending an invitation transaction to the recipient device;
• responsive to the recipient device receiving the invitation transaction, the software running on the recipient device requesting acceptance of the invitation transaction;
• responsive to receiving the acceptance of the invitation transaction, the software running on the recipient device sending an acceptance transaction to the server;
• responsive to receiving the acceptance transaction at the server, the software running on the server selecting a set of fields from the initiator contact record and the software running on the server sending a data transaction comprising the set of fields to the recipient device;
• responsive to receiving the data transaction, the software running on the recipient device adding the set of fields to a phone contact list that is local to the recipient device;
• and
• whereas, thereafter, providing the recipient device with access to the set of fields in the phone contact list that is local to the recipient device.

Program instructions tangibly embodied in a non-transitory storage medium comprising at least one instruction configured to implement a system for providing management of contact records, wherein the at least one instruction comprises:

• computer readable instructions executed by a first processor of an initiator device causing the initiator device to request a recipient phone number, the initiator device having an initiator phone number;
• responsive to the computer readable instructions executed by the first processor of the initiator device receiving the recipient phone number, the computer readable instructions executed by the first processor of the initiator device causing the first processor to send a transaction to a server, the transaction comprising the recipient phone number;
• responsive to receiving the transaction by the server, computer readable instructions executed by a second processor of the server causing the second processor to send an invitation transaction to a recipient device that is associated with the recipient phone number;
• responsive to receiving the invitation transaction at the recipient device, computer readable instructions executed by a third processor of the recipient device causing the third processor to request acceptance;
• responsive to receiving the acceptance by the computer readable instructions executed by the third processor, the computer readable instructions executed by the third processor causing the third processor to send an acceptance transaction to the server;
• responsive to receiving the acceptance transaction by the server, the computer readable instructions executed by the second processor of the server causing the second processor to send a data transaction comprising a set of fields from an initiator contact record that is associated with the initiator phone number to the recipient device, the set of fields being any or all fields of the initiator contact record;
• and
• responsive to receiving the data transaction by the computer readable instructions executed by the third processor of the recipient device, the computer readable instructions executed by the third processor of the recipient device causing the third processor to store the set of fields in a storage of the recipient device.