METHODS AND APPARATUSES FOR SCHEDULING PAY-PER-CALL ADVERTISING

• US 20070011240A1
• Filed: 08/24/2006
• Published: 01/11/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 09/02/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Thryv, Inc. (Mudrick Capital Management LP)
• Original Assignee: UTBK, Inc.
• Inventors: HIRSON, Ron, FABER, Scott, ALTBERG, Ebbe, VAN DER LINDEN, Sean
• Granted Patent: US 9,183,545 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/204
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/00 Administration; Management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/101 Collaborative creation, e.g. joint development of products or services
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/109 Time management, e.g. calendars, reminders, meetings or time accounting
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0241 Advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0242 Determining effectiveness of advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0244 Optimization
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0247 Calculate past, present or future revenues
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0256 User search
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0271 Personalized advertisement
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0272 Period of advertisement exposure
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1101 Session protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1108 Web based protocols, e.g. webRTC
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/401 wherein the services involve a main real-time session and one or more additional parallel real-time or time sensitive sessions, e.g. white board sharing or spawning of a subconference
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/765 intermediate
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/53 using third party service providers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/62 : Establishing a time schedule for servicing the requests
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 11/00 : Telephonic communication systems specially adapted for combination with other electrical systems

Abstract

Methods and systems to schedule delivery of advertisements. In one embodiment, an indication of one or more periods of time during which the advertiser is callable to receive real time communications generated from advertising is received. Delivery of an advertisement for the advertiser is then managed according to the indication of one or more periods of time.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving from an advertiser an indication of one or more periods of time during which the advertiser is to receive real time communications; and

managing delivery of an advertisement for the advertiser based at least partially on the indication of one or more periods of time.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the real time communications comprise one or more of voice, image, video, and message.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

assigning to the advertiser a real time communication reference for inclusion in the advertisement; and

billing the advertiser for the advertisement based on real time communications directed to the advertiser via the real time communication reference.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the real time communications comprise telephone calls.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

receiving a telephone call made via the real time communication reference from a prospective customer; and

determining whether or not to connect the telephone call to the advertiser based as least partially on the indication of one or more periods of times.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the indication of one or more periods of times specifies a number of hours in a day.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the indication of one or more periods of times specifies a number of periods in a number of days.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the indication of one or more periods of times specifies at least one time period on a periodic basis.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a message from the advertiser during a first time period that is specified by the indication of one or more time periods, the message to indicate that the advertiser is not to to receive real time communications generated from advertising in a remaining portion of a first time period; and

managing delivery of an advertisement for the advertiser further according to the message.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the indication of one or more periods of time indicates time periods during which the advertiser is not to receive real time communications generated from advertising;

and said managing delivery of the advertisement comprises determining whether or not to delivery the advertisement based at least partially on a relation between a time instant of advertising opportunity and the indication of one or more periods of time.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein said managing delivery of the advertisement comprises determining a priority of the advertisement for presentation at a time instance of opportunity for advertising.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more periods of time correspond to a schedule of business hour of the advertiser.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the indication of one or more periods of time includes an indication of a real time availability of the advertiser to receive real time communications generated from the advertisement.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the indication is received via one of a computer server hosting an Internet website and a telephone line by a live operator.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the advertiser is billed for the advertisement according to real time communications connected to the advertiser via the advertisement.

16. A system, comprising:

an advertisement creation and management module to receive from an advertiser an indication of one or more periods of time during which the advertiser is scheduled to receive real time communications generated from advertising; and

an advertisement publication module to manage delivery of an advertisement for the advertiser according to the indication of one or more periods of time.

17. The system of claim 16, further comprising:

a communication handling module;

wherein the advertisement contains a real time communication reference which when used to request a real time communication connection causes the communication handling module to determine a connection to the advertiser.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the real time communication reference comprises a telephone number which when dialed causes the communication handling module to receive a call and further connect the call to the advertiser if the telephone number is dialed within a time period as specified by the indication of one or more periods of time.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the advertiser is billed for the advertisement based on a number of calls connected to the advertiser as a result of the advertisement.

20. A computer-readable medium having stored thereon a set of instructions which, when executed, perform a method comprising:

receiving from an advertiser an indication of one or more periods of time during which the advertiser is not to receive real time communications generated from advertising; and

managing delivery of an advertisement for the advertiser according to the indication of one or more periods of time.