Service interfacing for telephony

• US 20070116236A1
• Filed: 11/07/2005
• Published: 05/24/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 11/07/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ACK Ventures Holdings LLC
• Original Assignee: ACK Ventures Holdings LLC
• Inventors: Strickon, Joshua, Kargman, Harry
• Granted Patent: US 8,023,624 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 379/221.110
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2201/38 Displays
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/1058 Shopping and product ordering
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2207/20 hybrid systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/4936 Speech interaction details speech recognition per se G10L15/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/4938 comprising a voice browser which renders and interprets, e.g. VoiceXML
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/0036 where the data service is an information service
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/06 Authentication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/12 Messaging; Mailboxes; Announcements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/14 Short messaging services, e.g. short message services [SMS] or unstructured supplementary service data [USSD]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/16 Communication-related supplementary services, e.g. call-transfer or call-hold

Abstract

During a telephone call between a telephone user and an interactive response system, the user is enabled to use only his voice and key presses on a numeric keypad of his telephone to interactively specify information that can be used to control delivery of content to a visual display of, or a storage medium accessible by, a target telephone which may be a land-line phone, a mobile phone, or some other device acting as a telecommunications device. The target telephone has a visual display or a memory to display or store the delivered content, which may include ringtones, text messages, games, wallpapers, ring-back tones, video clips, web pages, applications, or links to information. The user is enabled to engage in an interaction with the response system that is representative of an interaction between the user and a server connected to the Internet. On behalf of the user, a separate interaction is conducted with the server through the Internet based on the representative interaction. Information is received that can be used to identify the user and the target device. Based on the received information, user authentication information is transmitted to the user, the authentication information is received from the user, and the user is allowed to access a service.

Claims

1. A method comprising

during a telephone call between a user'"'"'s telephone and an interactive response system, enabling a user to use only his voice and key presses on a numeric keypad of the telephone to interactively specify information that can be used to control delivery of content to a visual display of, or a storage medium accessible by, a target telephone.

2. The method of claim 1 in which the telephone comprises one or more of a mobile phone, a mobile computer, or a device acting in the capacity of a telecommunications device.

3. The method of claim 1 in which the target telephone comprises the user'"'"'s telephone.

4. The method of claim 1 in which the target telephone is other than the user'"'"'s telephone.

5. The method of claim 1 in which the storage medium is one or more of an integrated component of the target telephone, a removable component of the target telephone, external to the target telephone, and accessible by the target telephone through a network.

6. The method of claim 1 in which the storage medium is one or more of a computer memory, a flash memory, a hard disk, and an optical disk

7. The method of claim 1 in which the interactive response system comprises an IVR system.

8. The method of claim 1 in which the content comprises at least one of a ringtone, a text message, a game, a wallpaper, a ring-back tone, a video clip, a web page, an application, and a link to information that can be accessed by the user'"'"'s telephone.

9. The method of claim 1 in which the content is to be delivered by a supplier of content.

10. The method of claim 9 in which the supplier of content is independent of the interactive response system.

11. The method of claim 1 in which the information specified by the user includes an identification of the content.

12. The method of claim 1 in which the information specified by the user includes billing information.

13. The method of claim 1 also including

communicating with a service provider with respect to delivery of the content based on the information specified by the user.

14. The method of claim 1 also including

using information provided in connection with the telephone call to manage a user account associated with the user.

15. The method of claim 1 also including

automatically obtaining information during the telephone call that identifies the user, and

using the information identifying the user to instruct a third party to bill the user for the content.

16. The method of claim 15 in which the third party provides telephone services to the user.

17. A method comprising

during a telephone call between a user'"'"'s mobile phone and an interactive voice response system, enabling a user to use only his voice and numeric key presses on a keypad of the mobile phone to interactively specify information that can be used to control delivery of digital content from a content supplier to a visual display of, or a storage medium accessible by, the user'"'"'s mobile phone.

18. The method of claim 17 in which the digital content comprises at least one of a ringtone, a text message, a wallpaper, a ring-back tone, a video clip, a web page, an application, and a link to information that can be accessed by the user'"'"'s mobile phone.

19. An apparatus comprising

an interactive response system configured to interact with a user'"'"'s telephone during a telephone call to receive, in the form of only the user'"'"'s voice and touch tones, information about delivery of content to a target telephone, and to interact separately with a service provider to cause the content to be delivered to a visual display of, or a storage medium accessible by, the target telephone.

20. The apparatus of claim 19 in which the telephone comprises a mobile phone.

21. The apparatus of claim 19 in which the target telephone comprises the user'"'"'s telephone.

22. The apparatus of claim 19 in which the target telephone is other than the user'"'"'s telephone.

23. The method of claim 19 in which the storage medium is one or more of an integrated component of the target telephone, a removable component of the target telephone, external to the target telephone, accessible by the target telephone through a network.

24. The method of claim 19 in which the storage medium is one or more of a computer memory, a flash memory, a hard disk, and an optical disk

25. The apparatus of claim 19 in which the interactive response system comprises an IVR system.

26. The apparatus of claim 19 in which the content comprises digital content

27. The apparatus of claim 26 in which the digital content comprises at least one of a ringtone, a text message, a wallpaper, a ring-back tone, a video clip, a web page, an application, and a link to information that can be accessed by the user'"'"'s mobile phone.

28. The apparatus of claim 19 in which the service provider is independent of the interactive response system.

29. The apparatus of claim 19 in which the information about delivery of content includes an identification of the content.

30. The apparatus of claim 19 in which the information specified by the user includes billing information.

31. The apparatus of claim 19 in which the interactive response system is also configured to

manage a user account associated with the user using information provided in connection with the telephone call.

32. The apparatus of claim 19 in which the interactive response system is also configured to

automatically obtain information during the telephone call that identifies the user, and

use the information identifying the user to instruct a third party to bill the user for the content.

33. The apparatus of claim 32 in which the third party provides telephone services to the user.

34. A method comprising

during a telephone call between a user'"'"'s telephone and an interactive response system, enabling a user to engage in an interaction with the response system that is representative of an interaction between the user and a server connected to the Internet, and, on behalf of the user, conducting a separate interaction with the server through the Internet based on the representative interaction.

35. The method of claim 34 in which the telephone call is conducted on a bandwidth-limited channel and the separate interaction through the Internet is conducted on a higher-bandwidth channel.

36. The method of claim 34 in which at least part of the telephone call and part of the separate interaction through the Internet occur at the same time.

37. The method of claim 34 in which at least part of the telephone call and part of the separate interaction through the Internet occur at different times.

38. The method of claim 34 in which the telephone comprises a mobile phone.

39. The method of claim 34 in which the interactive response system comprises an IVR system.

40. The method of claim 34 in which the server is independent of the interactive response system.

41. The method of claim 34 also including

automatically obtaining information during the telephone call that identifies the user, and

using the information identifying the user to provide information identifying the user to the server.

42. A method comprising

during a telephone call between a user'"'"'s telephone and an interactive response system, enabling a user to use only his voice and key presses on a numeric keypad of the telephone to interactively specify information that can be used to control a content delivery transaction,

automatically obtaining information during the telephone call that identifies the user, and

using the information specified by the user and the information identifying the user to facilitate the transaction.

43. The method of claim 42 in which the information that identifies the user comprises at least one or more of a caller ID, a subscriber ID, or a handle.

44. The method of claim 42 also including managing an account of the user based on the automatically obtained information and the information specified by the user.

45. A method comprising

during a telephone call between a user'"'"'s telephone and an interactive response system, receiving information that can be used to identify the user,

based on the received information, transmitting user authentication information to the user,

receiving from the user the authentication information, and

allowing the user to access a service.