SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR CALLING ADVERTISED TELEPHONE NUMBERS ON A COMPUTING DEVICE
First Claim
1. A method of initiating a voice call from a user of an electronic device having a processor and a memory, the method comprising:
- detecting that electronic content displayed by the electronic device includes a telephone number;
determining, by the electronic device, that the telephone number is an advertiser telephone number for which an advertiser is willing to pay an amount for a voice call to the advertiser telephone number;
displaying an indication that the user is not charged for a voice call to the advertiser telephone number;
receiving from the user a request to initiate a voice call to the advertiser telephone number; and
initiating the voice call to the advertiser telephone number via a voice communication connection.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Advertisers submit advertising campaigns to a call advertising system, each campaign including a telephone number associated with the advertiser and an amount per call that the advertiser is willing to pay to receive calls from users at the advertised telephone number. When an advertised telephone number is contained in content that is displayed on a computing device of a user, or when a user enters a telephone number that corresponds with the advertised telephone number, the computing device highlights the advertised telephone number to indicate to the user that the call can be made at a free or reduced rate to what a user would normally pay in order to make such a call. If the user initiates a call to the advertised telephone number, the call is routed to the advertiser and the advertiser is charged the amount that they agreed to pay to receive the call.
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Citations
26 Claims
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1. A method of initiating a voice call from a user of an electronic device having a processor and a memory, the method comprising:
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detecting that electronic content displayed by the electronic device includes a telephone number; determining, by the electronic device, that the telephone number is an advertiser telephone number for which an advertiser is willing to pay an amount for a voice call to the advertiser telephone number; displaying an indication that the user is not charged for a voice call to the advertiser telephone number; receiving from the user a request to initiate a voice call to the advertiser telephone number; and initiating the voice call to the advertiser telephone number via a voice communication connection. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. An electronic device, comprising:
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a processor; a memory; a detection component configured to; detect a telephone number included in electronic content of the electronic device; determine that the telephone number is an advertiser telephone number for which an advertiser is willing to pay an amount for a voice call to the advertiser telephone number; and cause the electronic device to provide an indication of an incentive to make a voice call to the advertiser telephone number; and a voice communications component configured to initiate a voice call to the advertiser telephone number via a voice communication connection in response to a request to make a voice call to the advertiser telephone number. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A computer-readable storage medium whose contents cause an electronic device to perform a method of initiating a voice call from the electronic device, the method comprising:
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detecting a telephone number included in electronic content of the electronic device; determining that the telephone number is an advertiser telephone number for which an advertiser is willing to pay an amount for a voice call to the advertiser telephone number; and providing an indication of an incentive to make a voice call to the advertiser telephone number; and initiating the voice call to the advertiser telephone number via a voice communication connection in response to a request to make a voice call to the advertiser telephone number. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21)
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22. A method of providing an indication of an incentive to make a voice call, wherein the method is performed by an electronic device having a processor and a memory, the method comprising:
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detecting, by the electronic device, that electronic content of the electronic device includes a reference to an entity; receiving a determination that the referred-to entity has indicated a financial amount the entity is willing to pay for a voice call to the entity; and providing an indication of an incentive to make a voice call to the entity. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24, 25, 26)
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Specification