초록 ▼

An address book database includes household records in addition to contact records and group records. A household record contains a household distribution list that identifies a household group of contact records and a family group of contact records. The household distribution list further contains

An address book database includes household records in addition to contact records and group records. A household record contains a household distribution list that identifies a household group of contact records and a family group of contact records. The household distribution list further contains information about the relative hierarchy of each contact record in the family group, and that hierarchical information can be used to generate family trees. Each household record further contains a name field and other types of fields. Contact records that are included in the household distribution list include a household property which points to the household record so that entries of the household record can be displayed in place of entries of the contact records. Additionally, when a household record is created based upon a previously created contact record, entries of the contact record are copied to the household record, and entries for a name field, letter salutation field and address name field of the household record are created based at least partially upon the entry in the name field of the contact record.

대표청구항 ▼

[ What is claimed is:] [1.] In a computer system having an input device and a display device, a method for retrieving information from a database, the database comprising a first record with a first field assigned a first property and a second record with a first like field assigned the first proper

[ What is claimed is:] [1.] In a computer system having an input device and a display device, a method for retrieving information from a database, the database comprising a first record with a first field assigned a first property and a second record with a first like field assigned the first property, wherein the first field and the first like field are capable of containing an entry corresponding to the first property, the first record having an entry in the first field and the second record not having an entry in the first like field, the display method comprising the steps of:in response to receiving a display request from the input device, querying the database a first time to determine if the second record has an entry in the first like field;if the first like field of the second record is empty, querying the database a second time to determine if the first record has an entry in the first field; andif the first record has a first entry in the first field, retrieving the first entry from the first field of the first record.