Systems and Methods to Collect Information Just in Time for Connecting People for Real Time Communications

• US 20070189473A1
• Filed: 04/10/2007
• Published: 08/16/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 10/06/2003
• 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, MANCA, Paul
• Granted Patent: US 8,837,698 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 379/114.130
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/06 Recording class or number of calling , i.e. A-party or called party , i.e. B-party
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/0192 Sponsored, subsidised calls via advertising, e.g. calling cards with ads or connecting to special ads, free calling time by purchasing goods

Abstract

Systems and methods to collect information over a connection with a caller just in time for further connecting the caller to a callee. In one embodiment, a connection server is configured to provide to a caller a reference associated with the first criterion, to identify the first criterion based on the reference used to establish a connection with the caller for real time communications, to obtain a second criterion from the caller over the connection established for real time communications, to identifying a callee based at least in part on the first criterion and the second criterion, and to connect the caller from the established connection to the callee for real time communications.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

providing to a caller a reference associated with a first criterion;

identifying the first criterion based on the reference used to establish a connection for real time communications with the caller;

obtaining a second criterion from the caller over the established connection for real time communications;

identifying a callee based at least in part on the first criterion and the second criterion; and

connecting the caller from the established connection to the callee for real time communications between the caller and the callee.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the providing the reference to the caller comprises providing an advertisement for a group of advertisers satisfying the first criterion;

the callee is one of the advertisers; and

the callee satisfies both the first criterion and the second criterion.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

charging the callee an advertisement fee in response to the connecting of the caller and the callee.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining whether the caller has requested for a prior connection via the reference within a predetermined period of time;

in response to a determination that the caller has requested for a prior connection via the reference within the predetermined period of time, connecting the caller to a prior callee determined for the prior connection without obtaining the second criterion from the caller;

wherein the obtaining of the second criterion is in response to a determination that the caller has not requested for a prior connection via the reference within the predetermined period of time.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining whether the caller has requested for a prior connection via the reference within a predetermined period of time;

wherein if the caller has requested for a prior connection via the reference within the predetermined period of time and the second criterion is the same as a criterion received via the prior connection, the callee identified is to be the same as a prior callee to whom the caller was connected from the prior connection.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the first criterion comprises a category of advertisements;

and the second criterion comprises a subcategory of the category.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the connection established via the reference comprises a telephone connection;

and the caller is connected to the callee for a telephone conversation.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the telephone connection is established via a connection server establishing a first Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP ) connection with a telecommunication carrier which bridges the first VoIP connection to a public switched telephone network (PSTN) to the caller;

and

wherein the connecting the caller to the callee comprises the connection server establishing a second Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) call to a telecommunication carrier which bridges the second VoIP call to a public switched telephone network (PSTN) to the callee and connecting the first VoIP connection with the second VoIP call.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein a first virtual softphone terminates the first VoIP connection for bridging onto a public switched telephone network (PSTN);

a second virtual softphone terminates the second VoIP call for bridging onto a public switched telephone network (PSTN); and

the connection server directs the first and second softphones to establish a direct media connection, which does not go through the connection server, to connect the caller and the callee.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the obtaining of the second criterion comprises connecting the caller from the established connection to an interactive voice response system to obtain the second criterion over the established connection.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the reference comprises a telephonic reference of a connection provider which is used by the caller on a telecommunication network to request the connection between the caller and the connection provider over which the second criterion is received.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the telephonic reference comprises a telephone number local to the caller, a toll free telephone number, a session initiation protocol (SIP) universal resource identifier (RUI), and an instant messaging user identifier.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

collecting information about the caller over the connection established via the reference; and

providing the collected information to the callee.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the information collected about the caller is not used to select the callee.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

presenting an advertisement of the caller over the connection established via the reference;

wherein the caller is connected to the callee from the connection established via the reference in response to an indication of the caller selecting the advertisement.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the identifying of the callee comprises:

determining a set of candidates based on the first criterion and the second criterion; and

selecting the callee from the set of candidates based on bid prices specified by the candidates for an advertisement fee which is to be charged responsive to the connecting the caller to the callee.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the identifying the callee comprises:

determining a set of candidates based on the first criterion and the second criterion;

computing earning potentials for connecting the caller to the candidates, wherein the earning potentials include an advertisement fee which is to be charged when the caller is connected to a candidate and a commission fee for an expected purchase from the candidate made by the caller; and

selecting the callee from the set of candidates based on the earning potentials.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the purchase comprises a service to be provided over a connection for real time communications between the caller and the candidate.

19. A machine readable media embodying instructions, the instructions causing a machine to perform a method, the method comprising:

providing to a caller a reference associated with a first criterion;

identifying the first criterion based on the reference used to establish a connection for real time communications with the caller;

obtaining a second criterion from the caller over the established connection for real time communications;

identifying a callee based at least in part on the first criterion and the second criterion; and

connecting the caller from the established connection to the callee for real time communications between the caller and the callee.

20. A system, comprising:

a memory to associate a reference with a first criterion; and

one or more processors coupled to the memory to provide to a caller the reference associated with the first criterion, to identify the first criterion based on the reference used to establish a connection with the caller for real time communications, to obtain a second criterion from the caller over the connection established for real time communications, to identifying a callee based at least in part on the first criterion and the second criterion, and to connect the caller from the established connection to the callee for real time communications.