METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CONTENT PRESENTATION IN ASSOCIATION WITH A TELEPHONE CALL

• US 20140321629A1
• Filed: 07/09/2014
• Published: 10/30/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 04/06/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Vusura Technology LLC
• Original Assignee: Wendell Brown
• Inventors: Brown, Wendell D.
• Granted Patent: US 9,137,379 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 379/130
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0241 Advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/00 Substation equipment, e.g. for use by subscribers subscriber services or facilities provided at exchanges H04M3/00; prepayment telephone coin boxes H04M17/00; current supply arrangements H04M19/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72439 for image or video messaging
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72457 according to geographic location
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72469 for operating the device by selecting functions from two or more displayed items, e.g. menus or icons
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/00 Arrangements for metering, time-control or time indication ; Metering, charging or billing arrangements for voice wireline or wireless communications, e.g. VoIP
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/61 based on the service used
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/8083 involving reduced rates or discounts, e.g. time-of-day reductions or volume discounts
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/83 Notification aspects
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/8351 before establishing a communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/8353 during the communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/8355 after the end of the communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/846 optical, e.g. icon
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/848 Tone, e.g. beeper
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/85 characterised by the type of condition triggering a notification
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/6054 Biometric subscriber identification
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/7231 by SIM, e.g. smart card account in SCP, SDP or SN
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2242/30 Determination of the location of a subscriber
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42051 where the notification is included in the ringing tone
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42059 Making use of the calling party identifier
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/4365 : based on information specified by the calling party, e.g. priority or subject
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/4878 : Advertisement messages
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/0036 : where the data service is an information service
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/0051 : where the data service is a multimedia messaging service
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/12 : Messaging; Mailboxes; Announcements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/16 : Communication-related supplementary services, e.g. call-transfer or call-hold
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/18 : Information format or content conversion, e.g. adaptation by the network of the transmitted or received information for the purpose of wireless delivery to users or terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/20 : Services signaling; Auxiliary data signalling, i.e. transmitting data via a non-traffic channel
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/21 : for social networking applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/23 : for mobile advertising

Abstract

A method and apparatus are provided for presenting multimedia content to a caller and/or a called party in association with a telephone call. Content may be presented pre-ring (before the called party'"'"'s telephone rings), in-call, and/or post-call. Content presented to a party may be related to another party participating in the call or may be related to a third party (e.g., an advertiser that paid for the ability to have its content presented). Presented content may be actuable, to allow a caller to change the destination of a call, take advantage of an offer presented to him or her, redeem a coupon, schedule or queue a subsequent call, etc. To find a desired destination party, a caller may initiate a manual or automatic search of his or her local contacts (on his telephone) and/or a central or global directory or contact list.

Claims

1. A method of controlling presentation of content on a communication device, the method comprising:

receiving electronic notification of initiation of a call from a first communication device to a second communication device;

transmitting a first signal to the first communication device to delay dialing the call, without soliciting action by an operator of the first communication device; and

causing to be displayed on one of the first communication device and the second communication device a request for payment information regarding a transaction involving the operator of the first communication device.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting to one or both of the first communication device and the second communication device pre-ring content to be displayed after receiving the electronic notification and before the call rings at the second communication device.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the pre-ring content comprises the request for payment information.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting to one or both of the first communication device and the second communication device in-call content to be displayed during the call.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the in-call content comprises the request for payment information.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting to one or both of the first communication device and the second communication device post-call content to be displayed after the call.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the post-call content comprises the request for payment information.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein said causing comprises transmitting to the one device a signal that causes the one device to display the request for payment information.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein said causing comprises transmitting to the one device, for display on the one device, identification of one or more acceptable methods of payment.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the request for payment information comprises one or more details of the transaction.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

updating the one or more details of the transaction based on the call.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting to one or more of the first communication device and the second communication device a receipt regarding the transaction.

13. A computer-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform a method of controlling presentation of content on a communication device, the method comprising:

receiving electronic notification of initiation of a call from a first communication device to a second communication device;

transmitting a first signal to the first communication device to delay dialing the call, without soliciting action by an operator of the first communication device; and

causing to be displayed on one of the first communication device and the second communication device a request for payment information regarding a transaction involving the operator of the first communication device.

14. Apparatus for controlling presentation of content on a communication device external to the apparatus, the apparatus comprising:

one or more processors; and

memory storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the apparatus to;

receive electronic notification of initiation of a call from a first communication device to a second communication device;

transmit a first signal to the first communication device to delay dialing the call, without soliciting action by an operator of the first communication device; and

cause to be displayed on one of the first communication device and the second communication device a request for payment information regarding a transaction involving the operator of the first communication device.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the memory further stores instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the apparatus to:

transmit to one or both of the first communication device and the second communication device pre-ring content to be displayed after receiving the electronic notification and before the call rings at the second communication device.

16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the pre-ring content comprises the request for payment information.

17. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the memory further stores instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the apparatus to:

transmitting to one or both of the first communication device and the second communication device in-call content to be displayed during the call.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the in-call content comprises the request for payment information.

19. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the memory further stores instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the apparatus to:

transmitting to one or both of the first communication device and the second communication device post-call content to be displayed after the call.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the post-call content comprises the request for payment information.

21. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein said causing comprises transmitting to the one device a signal that causes the one device to display the request for payment information.

22. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein said causing comprises transmitting to the one device, for display on the one device, identification of one or more acceptable methods of payment.

23. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the request for payment information comprises one or more details of the transaction.

24. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the memory further stores instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the apparatus to:

updating the one or more details of the transaction based on the call.

25. The apparatus of claim 14, further comprising:

transmitting to one or more of the first communication device and the second communication device a receipt regarding the transaction.