Reverse billing in online search

• US 20060106711A1
• Filed: 04/01/2005
• Published: 05/18/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 11/17/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: QTECH SYSTEMS, LLC
• Original Assignee: QTECH SYSTEMS, LLC
• Inventors: Melideo, John
• Granted Patent: US 7,702,565 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/37
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/208 Input by product or record sensing, e.g. weighing or scanner processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0255 based on user history
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0273 Determination of fees for advertising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/04 Billing or invoicing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/188 Electronic negotiation
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/00 Arrangements for metering, time-control or time indication ; Metering, charging or billing arrangements for voice wireline or wireless communications, e.g. VoIP

Abstract

There is disclosed reverse billing in online search. A telephony server may receive a request from a user to cause a telephone call to be established between the user and a merchant. A notice to the merchant may be generated. The notice may include an offer to establish a telephone call with the user in exchange for payment of a definite fee. An acceptance of the offer may be received from the merchant to a phone number associated with the merchant. A first voice communication leg with the user and a second voice communication leg with the merchant may be bridged to establish the telephone call between the user and the merchant. The definite fee may be appear on the merchant'"'"'s bill for telephone service.

Claims

1. A process comprising:

(a) receiving a request from a user to cause a duplex voice communication session to be established between the user and a merchant from a group of one or more merchants

(b) causing a first voice communication leg to be made to a user phone number

(c) generating a notice to at least one of the merchants in the group of merchants, the notice including an offer to establish the duplex voice communication session with the user in exchange for payment of a definite fee

(d) receiving from at least one accepting merchant an acceptance of the offer

(e) if the acceptance is received from only one merchant, designating the only accepting merchant as the designated merchant

(f) if the acceptance is received from more than one accepting merchant, selecting one of the accepting merchants as the designated merchant

(g) causing the first voice communication leg and a second voice communication leg to a merchant phone number associated with the designated merchant to be bridged to thereby establish the duplex voice communication session between the user and the designated merchant

(h) causing the definite fee to appear on a bill for telephone service of the designated merchant.

2. The process of claim 1 wherein the generating the notice of step (c) is performed for all of the merchants in the group of merchants at about the same time.

3. The process of claim 2 wherein the selecting of step (f) is based on a first in time of all of the accepting merchants.

4. The process of claim 2 including competitive bidding between the selected merchants, wherein the selecting in step (f) is based on the accepting merchant making the highest bid for the duplex voice communications session.

5. The process of claim 1 wherein the generating the notice of step (c) is performed repeatedly for each of the merchants in the group of merchants until the offer is accepted or has been at least attempted to all of the merchants in the group of merchants.

6. The process of claim 5 wherein the generating of step (c) is performed in an order based on placement payments made by at least one of the merchants.

7. The process of claim 5 wherein the generating of step (c) is performed in a random order.

8. The process of claim 1 wherein the request is triggered by the user activating a user activatable link accessible via a screen display.

9. The process of claim 1 further comprising, before step (b), obtaining the user phone number.

10. The process of claim 1 wherein the request in step (a) is made as a consequence of the user viewing results of a key word search.

11. The process of claim 1 wherein the group of one or more merchants is provided as a consequence of the user initiating a key word search.

12. The process of claim 1 wherein in step (h) the definite fee appears as a charge for an enhanced service on the designated merchant'"'"'s bill for local telephone service.

13. The process of claim 1 wherein the notice comprises at least one from the group comprising an automated voice solicitation, an instant text message, and an electronic mail message.

14. The process of claim 1 wherein the acceptance of the offer in step (d) comprises one or more from the group comprising a voice notification, a touch tone based notification, an instant message, and an email message.

15. A process comprising:

(a) receiving a request from a user to cause a duplex voice communication session to be established between the user and a merchant

(b) causing a first voice communication leg to be made to a user phone number

(c) generating a notice to the merchant, the notice including an offer to establish the duplex voice communication session with the user in exchange for payment of a definite fee

(d) receiving an acceptance of the offer from the merchant

(e) causing the first voice communication leg and a second voice communication leg to a phone number associated with the merchant to be bridged to thereby establish the duplex voice communication session between the user and the merchant

(h) causing the definite fee to appear on a bill for telephone service of the merchant.

16. The process of claim 15 wherein the request is triggered by the user activating a user activatable link accessible via a screen display.

17. The process of claim 15 further comprising, before step (b), obtaining the user phone number.

18. The process of claim 15 wherein the request in step (a) is made as a consequence of the user viewing results of a key word search.

19. The process of claim 15 wherein the merchant is selected as a consequence of a key word search initiated by the user.

20. The process of claim 15 wherein in step (e) the definite fee appears as a charge for an enhanced service on the bill for local telephone service of the designated merchant.

21. The process of claim 15 wherein the notice comprises at least one selected from the group comprising an automated voice solicitation via a telephone, an instant text message, and an electronic mail message.

22. The process of claim 15 wherein the acceptance of the offer in step (d) comprises one or more selected from the group comprising a voice notification, a touch tone based notification, an instant message, and an email message.

23. A storage medium having instructions stored thereon which when executed cause a device to perform actions comprising:

(a) receiving a request from a user to cause a duplex voice communication session to be established between the user and a merchant

(b) causing a first voice communication leg to be made to a user phone number

(c) generating a notice to the merchant, the notice including an offer to establish the duplex voice communication session with the user in exchange for payment of a definite fee

(d) receiving an acceptance of the offer from the merchant

(e) causing the first voice communication leg and a second voice communication leg to a phone number associated with the merchant to be bridged to thereby establish the duplex voice communication session between the user and the merchant

(h) causing the definite fee to appear on a bill for telephone service of the merchant.

24. The storage medium of claim 23 wherein the request is triggered by the user activating a user activatable link accessible via a screen display.

25. The storage medium of claim 23 having further instructions stored thereon which when executed cause the device to perform further actions before step (b), including obtaining the user phone number.

26. The storage medium of claim 23 wherein the request in step (a) is made as a consequence of the user viewing results of a key word search.

27. The storage medium of claim 23 wherein the merchant is selected as a consequence of a key word search initiated by the user.

28. The storage medium of claim 23 wherein in step (e) the definite fee appears as a charge for an enhanced service on the bill for local telephone service of the designated merchant.

29. The storage medium of claim 23 wherein the notice comprises at least one from the group comprising an automated voice solicitation via a telephone, an instant text message, and an electronic mail message.

30. The storage medium of claim 23 wherein the acceptance of the offer in step (d) comprises one or more from the group comprising a voice notification, a touch tone based notification, an instant message, and an email message.

31. A computing device comprising:

a processor

a memory coupled with the processor

a storage medium having instructions stored thereon which when executed cause the computing device to perform actions comprising

(a) receiving a request from a user to cause a duplex voice communication session to be established between the user and a merchant

(b) causing a first voice communication leg to be made to a user phone number

(c) generating a notice to the merchant, the notice including an offer to establish the duplex voice communication session with the user in exchange for payment of a definite fee

(d) receiving an acceptance of the offer from the merchant

(e) causing the first voice communication leg and a second voice communication leg to a phone number associated with the merchant to be bridged to thereby establish the duplex voice communication session between the user and the merchant

(h) causing the definite fee to appear on a bill for telephone service of the merchant.

32. The computing device of claim 31 wherein the request is triggered by the user activating a user activatable link accessible via a screen display.

33. The computing device of claim 31 wherein the storage medium has further instructions stored thereon which cause the processor to perform further actions before step (b), including obtaining the user phone number.

34. The computing device of claim 31 wherein the request in step (a) is made as a consequence of the user viewing results of a key word search.

35. The computing device of claim 31 wherein the merchant is selected as a consequence of a key word search initiated by the user.

36. The computing device of claim 31 wherein in step (e) the definite fee appears as a charge for an enhanced service on the bill for local telephone service of the designated merchant.

37. The computing device of claim 31 wherein the notice comprises at least one selected from the group comprising an automated voice solicitation via a telephone, an instant text message, and an electronic mail message.

38. The computing device of claim 31 wherein the acceptance of the offer in step (d) comprises one or more from the group comprising a voice notification, a touch tone based notification, an instant message, and an email message.

39. A process comprising:

(a) receiving a request from a user to cause a duplex voice communication session to be established between the user and a merchant

(b) causing a first voice communication leg to be made to a user phone number

(c) generating a notice to the merchant, the notice including at least one of a first message and a second message

the first message stating that a listing provider is causing the duplex voice communication session to be established with the user, and

the second message stating the user identified the merchant using an online service provided by the listing provider

(d) receiving an acceptance of the offer from the merchant

(e) causing the first voice communication leg and a second voice communication leg to a phone number associated with the merchant to be bridged to thereby establish the duplex voice communication session between the user and the merchant

(h) causing a definite fee to be billed to the listing provider for establishing the duplex voice communication session between the user and the merchant.

40. The process of claim 39 wherein the request is triggered by the user activating a user activatable link accessible via a screen display.

41. The process of claim 39 further comprising, before step (b), obtaining the user phone number.

42. The process of claim 39 wherein the request in step (a) is made as a consequence of the user viewing results of a key word search made via the listing provider.

43. The process of claim 39 wherein the merchant is selected as a consequence of a key word search initiated by the user using a service of the listing provider.

44. The process of claim 39 wherein the notice comprises at least one selected from the group comprising an automated voice solicitation via a telephone, an instant text message, and an electronic mail message.

45. The process of claim 39 wherein the acceptance of the offer in step (d) comprises one or more selected from the group comprising a voice notification, a touch tone based notification, an instant message, and an email message.