System to capture communication information

• US 20070003038A1
• Filed: 06/22/2005
• Published: 01/04/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 06/22/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Rent Group Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Viva Group Incorporated
• Inventors: Eastwood, Mark, Hammond, Eric, Siegel, Ian
• Granted Patent: US 8,908,846 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 379/201.10
• 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

Apparatuses and methods to mask identification information to create billing mechanisms in an online listing system are disclosed. In one embodiment, a computer-implemented method of operating an online listing system includes determining an identity of a user based on an identifier entered by the user that uniquely identified the user; and capturing call history information when routing a proxy telephone number from the user (e.g., a renter, a buyer, a prospective buyer, a mortgagor, etc.) to a lister (e.g., a landlord, a seller, a rental manager, a mortgagee, etc.). The identifier may be the proxy telephone number and/or a code entered after dialing the proxy telephone number. The proxy telephone number may be converted to an actual telephone number prior to routing the proxy telephone number to the lister.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method of operating an online listing system, the computer-implemented method including:

determining an identity of a user based on an identifier entered by the user that uniquely identifies the user; and

capturing call history information when routing a proxy telephone number from the user to a lister.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the identifier forms at least part of the proxy telephone number.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the identifier is a code entered after dialing the proxy telephone number.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 3, further including converting the proxy telephone number to an actual telephone number prior to routing the proxy telephone number from the user to the lister.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 3, wherein the call history information includes at least one of the identity of the user, a duration of a routed call, a time-and-day of the routed call, and a listing identifier identifying a listing associated with the lister.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 5, further including transmitting, to the user, additional information about the listing based on the duration of the routed call.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 3, wherein the proxy telephone number is unique to a listing associated with the lister, and the code is unique to the user.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 7, wherein the listing is associated with an item detail page in the online listing system, and wherein the user contacts the lister through any one or more of the proxy telephone number, a proxy fax number, and a website lead form on the item detail page.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 8, further including validating a transaction between the user and the lister based on any one or more of the call history information, the proxy fax number, and the website lead form.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, further including justifying a charge to at least one of the user and the lister based on any one or more of the call history information, the proxy fax number, and the website lead form.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, further including routing the proxy fax number to an actual fax number through the online listing system.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 11, further including converting an actual email address of the user entered in the website lead form to a proxy email address;

and transmitting the proxy email address to the lister.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further including receiving a call of the user from multiple geographic sites prior to determining the identity of the user based on the identifier entered by the user that uniquely identifies the user.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further including generating the identifier based on a logic algorithm having a checksum;

and billing the lister for each different user routed call to the lister based on the identifier.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further including:

identifying a lister response to the user based on a code entered by the lister dialing a further proxy telephone number; and

capturing a response history information when routing the further proxy telephone number to the user.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 15, wherein the code is an extension entered after dialing the further proxy telephone number.

17. The computer-implemented method of claim 15, wherein the response history includes data of how long the lister took to contact the user.

18. The computer-implemented method of claim 17, further including recording one or more telephone calls between the user and the lister based on a contract between the user and the lister with a proprietor of the online listing system.

19. The computer-implemented method of claim 18, further including providing a periodic log of telephone numbers dialed between the user and the lister.

27. A machine-readable medium embodying a set of instructions that, when executed by a machine, cause the machine to perform the method of claim 1.

20. A computer-implemented method including:

generating a telephone number to uniquely identify a listing of an online listing system;

generating a telephone extension to uniquely identify a user of the online listing system; and

associating the telephone extension with the telephone number based on a registration of the user on the online listing system.

28. A machine-readable medium embodying a set of instructions that, when executed by a machine, cause the machine to perform the method of claim 20.

21. A computer-implemented method of operating an online listing system including:

identifying a lister response to a user based on a identifier entered by a lister that uniquely identifies the user; and

capturing response history information when routing a proxy telephone number from the lister to the user.

29. A machine-readable medium embodying a set of instructions that, when executed by a machine, cause the machine to perform the method of claim 21.

22. An apparatus including:

a transaction center server to identify a lister response to a user based on a code entered by the lister dialing a proxy telephone number; and

a billing module to capture a response history information when routing the proxy telephone number to the user.

23. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the code is an extension entered after dialing the proxy telephone number.

24. The apparatus of claim 22 wherein a mask module is to determine an identity of the user dialing a proxy telephone number based on an extension number entered by the user, and wherein the transaction center server is to capture call history information when routing the proxy telephone number to the lister.

25. The apparatus of claim 24, wherein the proxy telephone number is unique to a listing requested by the user, and the extension number is unique to the user.

26. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein the billing module is to generate a justification to a bill to at least one of the user and the lister based on any one or more of the call history information, the proxy fax number, and the website lead form.

30. A system including:

means for identifying a lister response to a user based on a identifier entered by a lister that uniquely identifies the user; and

means for capturing response history information when routing a proxy telephone number from the lister to the user.