Toll-free directory assistance with automatic selection of an advertisement from a category

• US 20070274476A1
• Filed: 03/23/2007
• Published: 11/29/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 05/31/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Jingle Networks Incorporated (Marchex Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Jingle Networks Incorporated (Marchex Incorporated)
• Inventors: Wolmuth, Scott
• Granted Patent: US 8,175,231 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 379/88.220
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0251 Targeted advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/4878 Advertisement messages
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/4931 Directory assistance systems

Abstract

The current invention is a system for providing telephone directory assistance service in which a telephone user calls to the system and the system will, based on the requested number or type of service, hear a recorded advertisement. The advertisements are selected from a databank, which may include any number advertisements categorized within the category associated with the service, according to selection criteria. After the advertising announcement is completed, the directory assistance call is processed as usual. The selection criteria can include the use of SIC codes.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

requesting directory assistance for a selected telephone number, the selected telephone number being associated with a specific provider of goods or services;

automatically selecting an advertisement categorized within the category associated with the specific provider of goods or services from an advertising database based on the selected telephone number; and

presenting the selected advertisement.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

asking a user to be connected to an advertised provider associated with said automatically selected advertisement; and

connecting to said advertised provider if said user agrees to be connected to the advertised provider.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein directory assistance service is always provided toll free.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein directory assistance service is associated with a toll free telephone number.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the advertisement is provided for competing goods and services.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein a selection criteria is based on the user'"'"'s geographical location.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein a selection criteria is based on a user'"'"'s telephone number.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein advertisements are stored in a memory.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein a user is requesting toll services.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the advertisement is selected based on Standard Industry Codes for goods and services.

11. A method for providing directory assistance information in a telecommunication network, the network comprising a customer station and a call processing station, the method comprising:

at the customer station,

dialing a telephone number used for accessing the call processing station;

setting up a call connection from the customer station to the call processing station;

providing a request for information relating to a telephone number for a specific provider of goods or services;

at the call processing station,

receiving the request for information from the customer station;

examining the request for information to identify a category associated with the specific provider of goods or services;

automatically selecting an advertisement from a plurality of advertisements categorized within the category;

receiving the selected advertisement from a stored media;

forwarding the selected advertisement to the customer station; and

at the customer station,

receiving the selected advertisement.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

querying a database to determine the selected advertisement, the querying using as at least one query parameter from the examining the request for information.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the query parameter is a geographic location component of the specific provider of goods or services specified in the request for information.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the query parameter is a name of a business that is the specific provider of goods or services specified in the request for information.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein the query parameter is a general type of business associated with the specific provider of goods or services specified in the request for information.

16. The method of claim 12, wherein the query parameter is a description of a product or service.

17. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

playing the advertisement at the customer station in an audible form.

18. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

playing the advertisement at the customer station in a visual form.

19. The method of claim 11, wherein the automatically selecting an advertisement further comprises:

automatically selecting the advertisement based on an additional criteria including at least one of geographic location for the customer station or a telephone number for the customer station.

20. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

providing access to a service associated with the selected advertisement.

21. The method of claim 20, further comprising:

connecting the customer station to a telephone number associated with the selected advertisement.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the connecting is performed only after optionally prompting a user of the customer station.

23. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

querying a database to determine the selected advertisement, the querying using the associated category identified from the request as at least one database query parameter.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the database query further returns an optional intercept parameter associated with the selected advertisement, wherein the optional intercept parameter is used to determine whether a user of the customer station is to be prompted to request access to a service associated with the advertisement.

25. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

querying a database to determine the selected advertisement, the querying using the associated category determined from the request and a location associated with the customer station as database query parameters.

26. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

connecting the customer station to a telephone number for the specific provider associated with the request for information.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein the connecting is provided at reduced cost as compared to a standard cost for a request for directory information associated with a telecommunication service provider.

28. The method of claim 26, wherein the connecting is provided without cost to the user of the customer station.

29. The method of claim 12, wherein the query parameter is the telephone number associated with the specific provider of goods or services specified in the request for information.

30. The method of claim 29, wherein the query parameter is an SIC code associated with the telephone number associated with the specific provider of goods or services specified in the request for information.

31. The method of claim 11, wherein the request for information relating to a telephone number for a specific provider of goods or services does not inherently determine the category.

32. The method of claim 11, wherein directory assistance service is always provided toll free.

33. The method of claim 11, wherein the telephone number is a toll free telephone number.

34. The method of claim 11, wherein the advertisement is provided for competing goods and services.

35. The method of claim 11, wherein the advertisement is selected based on Standard Industry Codes for goods and services.

36. A machine-accessible medium containing instructions that, when executed, cause a machine to:

receive a directory assistance request for information relating to a specific provider of goods or services;

examine the request for information to identify a category associated with the specific provider of goods or services;

select an advertisement from a plurality of advertisements categorized within the category associated with the specific provider of goods or services automatically; and

receive the selected advertisement and forward the selected advertisement to a customer station.

37. The computer readable medium of claim 36, wherein directory assistance service is always provided toll free.

38. The computer readable medium of claim 36, wherein directory assistance request is made from a toll free telephone number.

39. The computer readable medium of claim 36, wherein the advertisement is provided for competing goods and services.

40. The computer readable medium of claim 36, further containing instructions that, when executed, cause the machine to:

select an advertisement based on at least one of geographic location for the customer station and a telephone number for the customer station.

41. The computer readable medium of claim 36, further containing instructions that, when executed, cause the machine to:

provide access to a service associated with the selected advertisement.

42. The computer readable medium of claim 36, further containing instructions that, when executed, cause the machine to:

connect the customer station to a telephone number associated with the selected advertisement.

43. The computer readable medium of claim 42, wherein the connect is performed only after an optional prompt of a user of the customer station.

44. The computer readable medium of claim 42, wherein the connect is provided without cost to a user of the customer station.

45. The computer readable medium of claim 36, wherein the advertisement is selected based on Standard Industry Codes for goods and services.

46. A system comprising:

a customer station including call connection circuitry; and

a call processing station that operates to receive a request for directory assistance information from the customer station, to examine the request for directory assistance information to identify a category associated with a specific provider of goods or services, to automatically select an advertisement from a plurality of advertisements categorized within the category from an advertisement database and to selectively forward the selected advertisement to the customer station.

47. The system of claim 46, wherein directory assistance service is always provided toll free.

48. The system of claim 46, wherein the directory assistance is requested from a toll free telephone number.

49. The system of claim 46, wherein the advertisement is provided for competing goods and services.

50. The system of claim 46, the customer station further comprising:

an input device to obtain a telephone number used for accessing the call processing station;

a transmitter that operates to transmit the request for directory assistance information, wherein the call connection circuitry operates to set up a call connection from the customer station to the call processing station; and

a first receiver that operates to receive the selected advertisement.

51. The system of claim 50, the call processing station further comprising:

a second receiver that operates to receive the request for directory assistance information from the customer station; and

a processor that operates to retrieve the selected advertisement from a stored media.

52. The system of claim 46, further comprising:

a database apparatus that operates to process a query to determine the selected advertisement, the query having at least one query parameter derived from the request for directory assistance information.

53. The apparatus of claim 52, wherein the query parameter is a geographic location component of the specific provider of goods or services in the request for information.

54. The system of claim 52, wherein the query parameter is a name of a business that is the specific provider of goods or services.

55. The system of claim 52, wherein the query parameter is a description of a good or service.

56. The system of claim 52, wherein the query parameter is a code associated with the request for directory assistance information.

57. The system of claim 56, wherein the code is a Standard Industry Classification (SIC) code for goods and services.

58. The system of claim 46, further comprising:

an audio output device that operates to play the advertisement at the customer station in an audible form.

59. The system of claim 46, further comprising:

a visual output device that operates to display the advertisement at the customer station.

60. The system of claim 46, wherein the processor further automatically selects the advertisement based on a telephone number requested by a user.

61. The system of claim 46, wherein the call processing station further provides access to a service associated with the selected advertisement.

62. The system of claim 61, wherein the customer station is selectively connected to a telephone number associated with the selected advertisement.

63. The system of claim 61, wherein the customer station is connected to the service provider associated with the selected advertisement only after prompting a user.

64. The system of claim 46, wherein the system further determines the selected advertisement by using the associated category identified from the request for directory assistance information as at least one database query parameter.

65. The system of claim 64, wherein a database query returns an optional intercept parameter associated with the selected advertisement, and the optional intercept parameter is used to determine whether a user of the customer station is to be prompted to request access to a service associated with the selected advertisement.

66. The system of claim 46, wherein the system further determines the selected advertisement by using the associated category determined from the request for directory assistance information and a location associated with the customer station as database query parameters.

67. The system of claim 46, wherein the customer station is selectively connected to a telephone number for the specific provider associated with the request for information.

68. The system of claim 67, wherein the connection is provided at reduced cost as compared to a standard cost for a request for directory assistance information associated with a telecommunication service provider.

69. The system of claim 67, wherein the connection is provided without cost to a user of the customer station.

70. The system of claim 52, wherein the query parameter is the telephone number associated with the specific provider associated with the request for directory assistance information.

71. The system of claim 52, wherein the query parameter is in SIC code associated with the telephone number associated with the specific provider.

72. The system of claim 46, wherein the request for directory assistance information relating to a telephone number for the specific provider of the goods or the services does not inherently determine the category.

73. The system of claim 46, wherein the advertisement is selected based on Standard Industry Codes for goods and services.

74. An apparatus comprising:

a selection means, the selection means operates to automatically select an advertisement from a plurality of advertisements in an advertisement database to one of play and display on an external device based on a telephone number of a specific provider of goods and services, the advertisement is categorized within a category associated with the specific provider of goods or services.

75. The apparatus of claim 74, wherein the advertisement is selected based on a directory assistance request from a toll free telephone number for a telephone number associated with a provider of one of goods and services.

76. The apparatus of claim 75, wherein the advertisement is targeted to a competing one of the goods and the services.

77. The apparatus of claim 75, wherein directory assistance requests are always provided toll free.

78. The apparatus of claim 74, wherein a user chooses to one of listen and not to listen to the advertisement.

79. The apparatus of claim 74, wherein the external device is one of a telephone, a cellular telephone, an Internet telephone and a handheld computer device.

80. The apparatus of claim 74, wherein the advertisement is selected based on Standard Industry Codes for goods and services.