Technique for providing a personalized auction service through an information assistance provider
First Claim
1. A method for providing information assistance, comprising:
- storing data concerning access to one or more auction accounts associated with a user;
receiving a communication from the user through a first communications connection;
retrieving the data;
accessing the one or more auction accounts over a second communications connection;
providing, to the user, information associated with the one or more auction accounts; and
performing one or more operations with respect to an auction over the second communications connection on behalf of the user.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
To provide a personalized auction service, data pertaining to one or more of a user'"'"'s accounts with different online auction service providers (OASPs), e.g., URLs of the OASPs and account access data, is maintained in a folder by an information assistance service, which is unaffiliated with the OASPs. When the user calls the information assistance service, the user'"'"'s folder is retrieved. The user'"'"'s OASP accounts may be accessed on behalf of the user based on the URLs of the OASPs and account access data in the user'"'"'s folder. An information assistance provider including, e.g., an operator and/or a voice server, may obtain from the OASPs information associated with the user'"'"'s accounts, which may concern an auction of an item desired by the user, and communicate the same to the user. The information assistance provider may participate in one such auction on behalf of the user.
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Citations
46 Claims
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1. A method for providing information assistance, comprising:
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storing data concerning access to one or more auction accounts associated with a user;
receiving a communication from the user through a first communications connection;
retrieving the data;
accessing the one or more auction accounts over a second communications connection;
providing, to the user, information associated with the one or more auction accounts; and
performing one or more operations with respect to an auction over the second communications connection on behalf of the user. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A method for use by an information assistance provider, comprising:
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storing first data concerning access to one or more auction accounts associated with a user, the first data being stored in association with second data representing the user;
receiving a communication from the user;
obtaining the second data during the communication;
retrieving the first data based on the second data;
using the first data to access the one or more auction accounts, established with one or more service providers which are unaffiliated with the information assistance provider; and
providing, to the user, information concerning the one or more auction accounts from the one or more service providers. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
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24. A system for providing information assistance, comprising:
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storage for storing data concerning access to one or more auction accounts associated with a user;
an interface for receiving a communication from the user through a first communications connection, the data being retrieved from the storage; and
a processor configured for accessing the one or more auction accounts over a second communications connection, the user being provided with information associated with the one or more auction accounts, one or more operations being performed with respect to an auction over the second communications connection on behalf of the user. - View Dependent Claims (25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33)
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34. A system for use by an information assistance provider, comprising:
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storage for storing first data concerning access to one or more auction accounts associated with a user, the first data being stored in association with second data representing the user;
an interface for receiving a communication from the user, the second data being obtained during the communication; and
a processor configured for retrieving the first data based on the second data, the first data being used to access the one or more auction accounts, established with one or more service providers which are unaffiliated with the information assistance provider, the user being provided with information concerning the one or more auction accounts from the one or more service providers. - View Dependent Claims (35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46)
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Specification