System, method, and business model for speech-interactive information system having business self-promotion, audio coupon and rating features

• US 6,658,389 B1
• Filed: 03/24/2000
• Issued: 12/02/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 03/24/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Xylon LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: Ahmet Alpdemir
• Inventors: Alpdemir, Ahmet
• Primary Examiner(s): ABEBE, DANIEL DEMELASH
• Application Number:
  US09/534,700
• Time in Patent Office: 1,348 Days
• Field of Search: 704/246, 704/251, 704/270, 704/273, 704/275, 705/15, 705/26, 379/88.01, 379/88.22
• US Class Current: 704/275
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/12 Hotels or restaurants
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/26 Speech to text systems G10L15/08 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2201/60 Medium conversion
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2242/30 Determination of the location of a subscriber
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/4878 Advertisement messages
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/493 Interactive information services, e.g. directory enquiries ; Arrangements therefor, e.g. interactive voice response [IVR] systems or voice portals
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/4931 Directory assistance systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/4936 Speech interaction details speech recognition per se G10L15/00

Abstract

The invention provides a system, method, and business model for an information system and service having business self-promotion, audio coupon, ratings, and other features. A business or organization in which consumers call into a service using an ordinary telephone, PC, PDA, or other information appliance, and make requests in plain speech for information on goods and/or services, and the service provides responses to the request in plain speech in real-time. Provides an operating model for a telephone-based audio-interfaced goods and services information and referral service having merchant self-promotion features, including database provider storing merchant information; an interface for inputting merchant information into the database and for retrieving and editing the information; and an interface for inputting voice commands and data and for receiving merchant information and processed information from the database in response to the input voice commands and data. The invention provides a system including: a speech-to-text conversion engine converting speech-based input commands and data received from an external device over a communication link into text-based commands and data; a data base storing a plurality of data items; a search engine searching the database for a particular data item in response to the text-based command and data; a text-to-speech conversion engine generating a speech-based representation of the particular data item identified in the database search; and a speech server for communicating the speech-based representation of the particular data item to the external device.

Claims

1. An operating model for a telephone-based audio-interfaced goods and services information service, comprising:

an information database provider storing merchant information including a merchant identity information and at least one good or service associated with said merchant;

an audio merchant interface including a first telephone for inputting said merchant information into said database;

a second telephone for inputting end-consumer spoken voice commands making a request for information and for receiving said merchant information in audio form stored in said database in response to said input spoken voice commands making said request for information, said inputting end-consumer spoken voice commands making a request for information occurring without a conversion of a text command into a spoken voice command and without the use of a computer; and

at least one speech server separate from said merchant interface and said end-consumer second telephone and operable to;

(i) receive said input spoken end-consumer voice commands in audio form and translate said received input spoken voice commands into a first symbolic command form using a speech-to-text conversion engine so that said symbolic command form may be used to search said information database and retrieve an information item in a second symbolic form therefrom, and (ii) convert said retrieved second symbolic form information item into speech using a text-to-speech conversion engine for communication to said end user in spoken form;

said second telephone comprises a mobile telephone; and

further comprising;

receiving and collecting raw business rating inputs in the form of voice utterances from users, processing these speech uttered ratings inputs to generate compiled business ratings, and providing said processed business ratings to users in response to said speech utterances;

providing a referral service accessible via said second telephone and operable to provide a consumer with a referral to a merchant having a predetermined rating, including providing a highly rated business;

providing a merchant self-promotion and consumer feedback features that encourage use, generate revenues, and provide incentives for use by both merchants and consumers;

said merchant information includes a merchant identifier, a merchant coupon, a category sponsorship message, a merchant telephone number, and a stored merchant information as a recorded audio information;

said consumer interface does not utilize a visual display even if present in said consumer interface to interact with said speech server; and

determining the geographic location of the caller, and providing an information having geographical context to the caller based on said determined geographic caller location, said information having geographical context being selected from the set consisting of;

a geographically based recommendations, a geographically-based promotion, a geographically based audio coupon delivery, and combinations thereof.

2. A method comprising:

receiving a speech utterance in the form of an electronic audio signal directly from an end user consumer from a telephone, the speech utterance including spoken voice input commands requesting information on a merchant good or service from the end user consumer without requiring the end user consumer to provide any text or symbolic command representation for the request;

converting the speech utterance to text and extracting commands and optional data from said converted text;

searching a database storing a plurality of data items including a merchant data items and at least one good or service data item associated with said merchant for a particular one of said plurality of said data items in response to said converted text-based command and data;

generating a speech-based audio representation of said particular data item identified in said database search for playback over a telephone;

serving said speech-based representation of said particular data item to said telephone;

receiving and collecting raw business rating inputs in the form of voice utterances from users, processing these speech uttered ratings inputs to generate compiled business ratings, and providing said processed business ratings to users in response to said speech utterances;

providing a referral service accessible via said second telephone and operable to provide a consumer with a referral to a merchant having a predetermined rating, including providing a highly rated businesses;

providing a merchant self-promotion and consumer feedback features that encourage use, generate revenues, and provide incentives for use by both merchants and consumers;

said merchant information includes a merchant identifier, a merchant coupon, a category sponsorship message, a merchant telephone number, and a stored merchant information as a recorded audio information;

said consumer interface does not utilize a visual display even if present in said consumer interface to interact with said speech server; and

determining the geographic location of the caller, and providing an information having geographical context to the caller based on said determined geographic caller location, said information having geographical context being selected from the set consisting of;

a geographically based recommendations, a geographically-based promotion, a geographically based audio coupon delivery, and combinations thereof.

3. A system comprising:

a speech-to-text conversion engine converting speech-based audio input commands and data received from an external telephone separate from said speech-to-text conversion engine over a wired or wireless telephone line into output text-based commands and data;

a database storing a plurality of data items including a merchant identity information and at least one good or service associated with said merchant;

a database search engine searching the database for a particular data item in response to said output text-based command and data;

a text-to-speech conversion engine generating a speech-based audio representation of said text-based particular data item identified in said database search;

a server separate from said telephone for communicating said speech-based audio representation of said particular data item to said telephone; and

means for receiving and collecting raw business rating inputs in the form of voice utterances from users, processing these speech uttered ratings inputs to generate compiled business ratings, and providing said processed business ratings to users in response to said speech utterances;

means for providing a referral service accessible via said second telephone and operable to provide a consumer with a referral to a merchant having a predetermined rating, including providing a highly rated businesses;

means for providing a merchant self-promotion and consumer feedback features that encourage use, generate revenues, and provide incentives for use by both merchants and consumers;

said merchant information includes a merchant identifier, a merchant coupon, a category sponsorship message, a merchant telephone number, and a stored merchant information as a recorded audio information;

said consumer interface does not utilize a visual display even if present in said consumer interface to interact with said speech server; and

means for determining the geographic location of the caller, and providing an information having geographical context to the caller based on said determined geographic caller location, said information having geographical context being selected from the set consisting of;

a geographically based recommendations, a geographically-based promotion, a geographically based audio coupon delivery, and combinations thereof.

4. A business model for a business in which consumers call into a service using an ordinary telephone and make requests in plain speech for information and positive referrals on goods and/or services, merchants access the service to create and edit merchant information in real-time, and the service provides responses to the request in plain speech in real-time over the same telephone, the service using an automated speech driven query and response to reduce cost of operation as compared to non-automated speech driven query and response services and further comprising:

receiving and collecting raw business rating inputs in the form of voice utterances from users, processing these speech uttered ratings inputs to generate compiled business ratings, and providing said processed business ratings to users in response to said speech utterances;

providing a referral service accessible via said second telephone and operable to provide a consumer with a referral to a merchant having a predetermined rating, including providing a highly rated businesses;

providing a merchant self-promotion and consumer feedback features that encourage use, generate revenues, and provide incentives for use by both merchants and consumers;

said merchant information includes a merchant identifier, a merchant coupon, a category sponsorship message, a merchant telephone number, and a stored merchant information as a recorded audio information;

said consumer interface does not utilize a visual display even if present in said consumer interface to interact with said speech server; and

determining the geographic location of the caller, and providing an information having geographical context to the caller based on said determined geographic caller location, said information having geographical context being selected from the set consisting of;

a geographically based recommendations, a geographically-based promotion, a geographically based audio coupon delivery, and combinations thereof.

5. A method comprising:

receiving a speech utterance in the form of an electronic audio signal directly from an end user consumer from a telephone, the speech utterance including spoken voice input commands requesting information on a merchant good or service from the end user consumer without requiring the end user consumer to provide any text or symbolic command representation for the request;

converting the speech utterance to text and extracting commands and optional data from said converted text;

searching a database storing a plurality of data items including a merchant data items and at least one good or service data item associated with said merchant for a particular one of said plurality of said data items in response to said converted text-based command and data;

.

generating a speech-based audio representation of said particular data item identified in said database search for playback over a telephone;

serving said speech-based representation of said particular data item to said telephone;

receiving and collecting raw business rating inputs in the form of voice utterances from users, processing these speech uttered ratings inputs to generate compiled business ratings, and providing said processed business ratings to users in response to said speech utterances;

providing a referral service accessible via said second telephone and operable to provide a consumer with a referral to a merchant having a predetermined rating, including providing a highly rated businesses;

providing a merchant self-promotion and consumer feedback features that encourage use, generate revenues, and provide incentives for use by both merchants and consumers;

said merchant information includes a merchant identifier, a merchant coupon, a category sponsorship message, a merchant telephone number, and a stored merchant information as a recorded audio information;

said consumer interface does not utilize a visual display even if present in said consumer interface to interact with said speech server; and

determining the geographic location of the caller, and providing an information having geographical context to the caller based on said determined geographic caller location, said information having geographical context being selected from the set consisting of;

a geographically based recommendations, a geographically-based promotion, a geographically based audio coupon delivery, and combinations thereof.

6. A method comprising:

receiving a speech utterance in the form of an electronic audio signal directly from an end user consumer from a telephone, the speech utterance including spoken voice input commands requesting information on a merchant good or service from the end user consumer without requiring the end user consumer to provide any text or symbolic command representation for the request;

converting the speech utterance to text and extracting commands and optional data from said converted text;

searching a database storing a plurality of data items including a merchant data item and at least one good or service data item associated.with said merchant for a particular one of said plurality of said data items in response to said converted text-based command and data;

generating a speech-based audio representation of said particular data item identified in said database search for playback over a telephone;

serving said speech-based representation of said particular data item to said telephone;

said information having geographical context is selected from the set consisting of;

a geographically based recommendation, a geographically-based promotion, a geographically based audio coupon delivery, and combinations thereof.

7. An operating model for a telephone-based audio-interfaced goods and services information service, comprising:

an information database provider storing merchant information including a merchant identity information and at least one good or service associated with said merchant;

an audio merchant interface including a first telephone for inputting said merchant information into said database;

a second telephone for inputting end-consumer spoken voice commands making a request for information and for receiving said merchant information in audio form stored in said database in response to said input spoken voice commands making said request for information, said inputting end-consumer spoken voice commands making a request for information occurring without a conversion of a text command into a spoken voice command and without the use of a computer;

at least one speech server separate from said merchant interface and said end-consumer second telephone and operable to;

(i) receive said input spoken end-consumer voice commands in audio form and translate said received input spoken voice commands into a first symbolic command form using a speech-to-text conversion engine so that said symbolic command form may be used to search said information database and retrieve an information item in a second symbolic form therefrom, and (ii) convert said retrieved second symbolic form information item into speech using a text-to-speech conversion engine for communication to said end user in spoken form; and

determining a geographic information for the end user, and providing the merchant information having geographical context to the end user based on said determined geographic caller location, said information having geographical context being selected from the set consisting of;

a geographically based recommendations, a geographically-based promotion, a geographically based audio coupon delivery, and combinations thereof.

8. The operating method in claim 7, wherein:

said second telephone comprises a cellular wireless telephone.

9. The operating model in claim 8, wherein said consumer also inputs non-voice commands and data from a keypad on said telephone handset in addition to said spoken voice commands in association with said request for information.

10. The operating model in claim 9, wherein said merchant information includes a merchant identifier.

11. The operating model in claim 9, wherein said merchant information includes a merchant audio coupon or discount offering.

12. The operating model in claim 9, wherein said merchant information includes category sponsorship message.

13. The operating model in claim 9, wherein said merchant information includes a merchant registration information including a merchant name, and a merchant telephone number.

14. The operating model in claim 9, wherein said merchant information includes a merchant credit number.

15. The operating model of claim 9, wherein the geographic context is determined using caller identification.

16. The operating model of claim 9, wherein the geographic context is determined by a known location of the caller.

17. The operating model of claim 16, wherein the known location is based on an ability of the telephone to self-locate.

18. The operating model of claim 17, wherein the ability to self locate includes geographic location derived from a geographic positioning system (GPS).

19. The operating model of claim 17, wherein the ability to self-locate includes cellular base station proximity or base-station to base-station handoffs.

20. The operating model of claim 9, wherein the geographical context is determined by a spoken request of a location of interest.

21. The operating model of claim 9, wherein the spoken request includes a spoken response to a prompt for a selection criteria.

22. The operating model of claim 21, the spoken response includes a city name.

23. The operating model of claim 21, wherein the spoken response includes a zip code.

24. The operating model of claim 21, wherein the spoken response includes a location in a particular area of a city.

25. The operating method in claim 9, further providing a merchant self-promotion and consumer feedback features that encourage use, generate revenues, and provide incentives for use by both merchants and consumers.

26. A system comprising:

a speech server receiving a spoken voice telephone call from an external telephone including spoken voice input commands requesting information on a good or service from an end consumer without requiring said end consumer to provide any text or symbolic command representation;

a speech-to-text conversion engine converting said received spoken voice input commands from said external telephone separate from said speech-to-text conversion engine over a wired or wireless telephone line to generate output text-based or symbol-based commands and data;

means for determining a geographic location of interest of an end consumer making said spoken telephone call;

a database storing a plurality of data items including a merchant identity information and at least one good or service associated with said merchant;

a database search engine searching the database for a particular data item in response to said generated output text-based command and data, said generated output-text-based commands and data being used to query said database to service said request for information by retrieving said particular data item;

said particular data item having geographical context to the end consumer based on said determined geographic end user location, said information having geographical context being selected from the set consisting of;

a geographically based recommendation, a geographically-based promotion, a geographically based audio coupon delivery, and combinations thereof;

a text-to-speech conversion engine generating a speech-based audio representation of said retrieved text-based particular data item identified in said database search; and

a server separate from said end-consumer telephone for providing and communicating said speech-based audio representation of said particular data item to said end-consumer external telephone.

27. The system in claim 26, wherein said speech-to-text conversion engine and said text-to-speech conversion engine communicate directly with callers over said telephone, wherein said callers comprise a consumer and a merchant.

28. The system in claim 26, wherein said external telephone comprises a rotary dial telephone not having a computer processor or visual display.

29. The system in claim 26, further comprising a device selected from the group consisting of a personal computer, notebook computer, personal data assistant (PDA), information appliance, or combination thereof.

30. The system of claim 26, wherein the means for determining geographic location of interest of an end consumer includes means for geographical context determination based on at least one of a caller identification, a known location of the end user, an ability of the telephone to self-locate, an ability to self locate including geographic location derived from a geographic positioning system (GPS), an ability to self-locate based on cellular base station proximity or base-station to base-station handoffs, a spoken request of a location of interest, a spoken response to a prompt for a selection criteria, a spoken response including a spoken a city name, a spoken response including a spoken zip code, a spoken response including a location in a particular area of a city.

31. The system of claim 26, wherein the means for determining geographic interest of an end consumer includes means for geographical context determination based on at least one of a caller identification, a known location of the end user, an ability of the telephone to self-locate, an ability to self locate including geographic location derived from a geographic positioning system (GPS), an ability to self-locate based on cellular base station proximity or base-station to base-station handoffs, a spoken request of a location of interest, a spoken response to a prompt for a selection criteria, a spoken response including a spoken a city name, a spoken response including a spoken zip code, a spoken response including a location in a particular area of a city.

32. A system as in claim 26, wherein the geographically based recommendation comprises a geographically based recommendation of a business name and a business telephone number.

33. A system as in claim 26, wherein the geographically based recommendation comprises a geographically based recommendation of a business name and related business information selected from the set of related business information consisting of a business location, a business telephone number, a business type, a special incentive offered by the business, an information that distinguishes from other businesses, and combinations thereof.

34. A system as in claim 26, wherein the recommendation further includes a first short message that will be heard by a caller who request the recommendation.

35. A system as in claim 26, wherein the recommendation further includes a special promotion.

36. A system as in claim 26, wherein the recommendation further includes directions to a business location.

37. A system as in claim 26, wherein the recommendation is a recommendation to a restaurant having a requested type of cuisine.

38. A system as in claim 26, wherein the recommendation comprises a recommendation to a business or merchant selected from the set of businesses and merchants consisting of:

a restaurant, a physician or surgeon, an auto parts business, an auto repair and service business, a pizza business or restaurant, an auto dealer, a department store, an attorney or lawyer, a dentist, a hospital, an insurance business, a beauty salon, a bank, a plumbing contractor, a florist, as well as many other types of businesses and services.

39. A system comprising:

a speech-to-text conversion engine converting speech-based audio input commands and data received from an external telephone separate from said speech-to-text conversion engine over a wired or wireless telephone line into output text-based commands and data;

a database storing a plurality of data items including a merchant identity information and at least one good or service associated with said merchant;

a database search engine searching the database for a particular data item in response to said output text-based command and data;

a text-to-speech conversion engine generating a speech-based audio representation of said text-based particular data item identified in said database search;

a server separate from said telephone for communicating said speech-based audio representation of said particular data item to said telephone;

means for communicating and validating a promotional audio coupon, said means for validating including means for inserting a spoken message to the merchant after the call has been connected to identify the caller as a valid service user and to validate the audio coupon; and

means for determining a geographic location of interest associated with a request communicated in said speech-based audio input commands and data and for providing said particular data item having geographical context to the request based on said geographic location, said particular data item having geographical context selected from the set consisting of;

a geographically based recommendation, a geographically-based promotion, a geographically based audio coupon delivery, and combinations thereof.

40. The system in claim 39, wherein said validating includes the system inserting a message to the merchant after the call has been connected to identify the caller as a valid service user and to validate the audio coupon.

41. A system comprising:

a speech-to-text conversion engine converting speech-based audio input commands and data received from an external telephone separate from said speech-to-text conversion engine over a wired or wireless telephone line into output text-based commands and data;

a database storing a plurality of data items including a merchant identity information and at least one good or service associated with said merchant;

a database search engine searching the database for a particular data item in response to said output text-based command and data;

a text-to-speech conversion engine generating a speech-based audio representation of said text-based particular data item identified in said database search;

a server separate from said telephone for communicating said speech-based audio representation of said particular data item to said telephone;

means for receiving rating inputs from users and for providing audio processed ratings based on said ratings inputs to consumers; and

means for determining a geographic location of interest associated with a request communicated in said speech-based audio input commands and data and for providing said particular data item having geographical context to the request based on said geographic location of interest, said particular data item having geographical context selected from the set consisting of;

a geographically based recommendation, a geographically-based promotion, a geographically based audio coupon delivery, and combinations thereof.

42. The system of claim 41, wherein the means for determining geographic location of interest associated with said request includes means for geographical context determination based on at least one of a telephone caller identification, a known location of the end user of the telephone, an ability of the telephone to self-locate, an ability of the telephone to self locate including geographic location derived from a geographic positioning system (GPS), an ability of the telephone to self-locate based on cellular base station proximity or base-station to base-station handoffs, a spoken request of a location of interest, a spoken response to a prompt for a selection criteria, a spoken response including a spoken a city name, a spoken response including a spoken zip code, a spoken response including a location in a particular area of a city.

43. A method comprising:

receiving a speech utterance in the form of an electronic audio signal directly from an end user consumer from a telephone, the speech utterance including spoken voice input commands requesting an information on a merchant good or service from the end user consumer without requiring the end user consumer to provide any text or symbolic command representation for the request;

converting the speech utterance to text and extracting commands and optional data from said converted text;

determining a geographic location of interest of said end user consumer;

searching a database storing a plurality of data items including a merchant data item and at least one good or service data item associated with said merchant for a particular one of said plurality of said data items in response to said converted text-based command and data, said searching including searching for a particular data item having geographical context to the end user consumer based on said determined geographic end user consumer location of interest, said data item having geographical context being selected from the set consisting of;

a geographically based recommendations, a geographically-based promotion, a geographically based audio coupon delivery, and combinations thereof;

generating a speech-based audio representation of said particular data item identified in said database search for playback over said telephone; and

serving said speech-based representation of said particular data item to said telephone.

44. The method in claim 43, wherein said telephone is a wireless telephone.

45. The method in claim 43, wherein said received speech utterance comprises natural human speech, and said converting comprises natural language speech processing to extract said commands and data into a text or symbolic command and data form.

46. The system of claim 43, wherein the determining geographic location of interest of said end user consumer includes determining based on at least one of a telephone caller identification, a known location of the end user, an ability of the telephone to self-locate, an ability of the telephone to self locate including geographic location derived from a geographic positioning system (GPS), an ability of the telephone to self-locate based on cellular base station proximity or base-station to base-station handoffs, a spoken request of a location of interest, a spoken response to a prompt for a selection criteria, a spoken response including a spoken a city name, a spoken response including a spoken zip code, a spoken response including a location in a particular area of a city.

47. A method as in claim 43, wherein the geographically based recommendation comprises a geographically based recommendation of a business name and a business telephone number.

48. A method as in claim 43, wherein the geographically based recommendation comprises a geographically based recommendation of a business name and related business information selected from the set of related business information consisting of a business location, a business telephone number, a business type, a special incentive offered by the business, an information that distinguishes from other businesses, and combinations thereof.

49. A method as in claim 43, wherein the recommendation further includes a first short message that will be heard by a caller who request the recommendation.

50. A method as in claim 43, wherein the recommendation further includes a special promotion.

51. The method as in claim 43, wherein the recommendation further includes directions to a business location.

52. A method as in claim 43, wherein the recommendation is a recommendation to a restaurant having a requested type of cuisine.

53. A method as in claim 43, wherein the recommendation comprises a recommendation to a business or merchant selected from the set of businesses and merchants consisting of:

a restaurant, a physician or surgeon, an auto parts business, an auto repair and service business, a pizza business or restaurant, an auto dealer, a department store, an attorney or lawyer, a dentist, a hospital, an insurance business, a beauty salon, a bank, a plumbing contractor, a florist, as well as many other types of businesses and services.

54. The method of claim 43, further comprising:

providing an audio processed merchant good or service rating to an end user consumer requesting information with said speech utterance.

55. The method of claim 43, further comprising:

validating a promotional audio coupon or discount offering by a merchant.

56. The method of claim 43, further comprising:

generating a referral to a merchant having a predetermined rating.

57. The method of claim 43, further comprising:

providing an audio processed merchant good or service rating to an end user consumer requesting information with said speech utterance;

validating a promotional audio coupon or discount offering by a merchant; and

generating a referral to a merchant having a predetermined rating.

58. A method comprising:

receiving a speech utterance from a user from an audio-enabled communication device;

converting the speech utterance to text and extracting commands and optional data from said converted text;

determining a geographic location of interest of said user;

searching a database storing a plurality of data items including a merchant data item and at least one good or service data item associated with said merchant for a particular one of said plurality of said data items in response to said converted text-based command and data, said searching including searching for a particular data item having geographical context to the end user consumer based on said determined geographic end user consumer location of interest, said data item having geographical context being selected from the set consisting of;

a geographically based recommendations, a geographically-based promotion, a geographically based audio coupon delivery, and combinations thereof;

generating a speech-based representation of said particular data item identified in said database search;

serving said speech-based representation of said particular data item to said audio-enabled communication device; and

communicating and validating a promotional audio coupon to the user at the time said speech-based representation is served to said communication device.

59. The method in claim 58, wherein said validating includes the system inserting a message to the merchant after the call has been connected to identify the caller as a valid service user and to validate the audio coupon.

60. A method comprising:

receiving a speech utterance from a user from an audio-enabled communication device;

converting the speech utterance to text and extracting commands and optional data from said converted text;

determining a geographic location of interest of said user;

searching a database storing a plurality of data items including a merchant data item and at least one good or service data item associated with said merchant for a particular one of said plurality of said data items in response to said converted text-based command and data, said searching including searching for a particular data item having geographical context to the end user consumer based on said determined geographic end user consumer location of interest, said data item having geographical context being selected from the set consisting of;

a geographically based recommendations, a geographically-based promotion, a geographically based audio coupon delivery, and combinations thereof;

generating a speech-based representation of said particular data item identified in said database search;

serving said speech-based representation of said particular data item to said audio-enabled communication device; and

receiving and collecting raw business rating inputs in the form of speech utterances from users, processing these speech uttered ratings inputs to generate compiled business ratings, and providing said processed business ratings to users in response to said speech utterances.

61. A method comprising:

receiving a speech utterance from a user from an audio-enabled communication device;

converting the speech utterance to text and extracting commands and optional data from said converted text;

determining a geographic location of interest of said user;

searching a database storing a plurality of data items including a merchant data item and at least one good or service data item associated with said merchant for a particular one of said plurality of said data items in response to said converted text-based command and data, said searching including searching for a particular data item having geographical context to the end user consumer based on said determined geographic end user consumer location of interest, said data item having geographical context being selected from the set consisting of;

a geographically based recommendations, a geographically-based promotion, a geographically based audio coupon delivery, and combinations thereof;

generating a speech-based representation of said particular data item identified in said database search;

serving said speech-based representation of said particular data item to said audio-enabled communication device; and

providing a consumer with a referral to a merchant having a predetermined rating using a referral service accessible via said communication device.

62. The method in claim 61, wherein said predetermined rating includes highly rated businesses.

63. A method comprising:

receiving a speech utterance from a user from an audio-enabled communication device;

converting the speech utterance to text and extracting commands and optional data from said converted text;

determining a geographic location of interest of said user;

searching a database storing a plurality of data items including a merchant data item and at least one good or service data item associated with said merchant for a particular one of said plurality of said data items in response to said converted text-based command and data, said searching including searching for a particular data item having geographical context to the user based on said determined geographic user location of interest, said data item having geographical context being selected from the set consisting of;

a geographically based recommendations, a geographically-based promotion, a geographically based audio coupon delivery, and combinations thereof;

generating a speech-based representation of said particular data item identified in said database search;

serving said speech-based representation of said particular data item to said audio-enabled communication device; and

providing a referral service accessible via an Internet web site interface operable to provide a consumer with a referral to a merchant having a predetermined rating.

64. The method in claim 63, wherein said predetermined rating includes highly rated businesses.

65. An operating model for a telephone-based audio-interfaced goods and services information and referral service having merchant self-promotion features, comprising:

storing merchant information, by an information database provider, said merchant information including a merchant identity information, at least one good or service associated with said merchant, and a merchant rating information;

receiving said merchant information into said database, via an audio merchant interface including a first telephone for inputting said merchant information into said database;

receiving audio consumer voice commands and audio consumer data via an audio consumer interface including a second telephone for inputting voice commands;

retrieving said merchant information, and optionally other information, from said database in response to said received consumer voice commands and data;

receiving and translating input voice commands, via a speech server separate from said merchant interface and said consumer interface, into a first symbolic command form using a speech-to-text conversion engine;

receiving and translating input voice commands into a first symbolic command form using a speech-to-text conversion engine in a speech server separate from said merchant interface and said consumer interface;

converting a retrieved second symbolic form data item into speech using a text-to-speech conversion engine in a speech server separate from said merchant interface and said consumer interface; and

determining a geographic caller location of interest, and providing said goods and services information having geographical context to the caller based on said determined geographic caller location of interest, said information having geographical context being selected from the set consisting of;

a geographically based recommendations, a geographically-based promotion, a geographically based audio coupon delivery, and combinations thereof.

66. A computer program product for use in conjunction with a computer system, the computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium and a computer program mechanism embedded therein, the computer program mechanism, comprising a program module, the program module including instructions for:

receiving a speech utterance in the form of an electronic audio signal directly from an end user consumer from a telephone, the speech utterance including spoken voice input commands requesting an information on a merchant good or service from the end user consumer without requiring the end user consumer to provide any text or symbolic command representation for the request;

converting the speech utterance to text and extracting commands and optional data from said converted text;

determining a geographic location of interest of said end user consumer;

searching a database storing a plurality of data items including a merchant data item and at least one good or service data item associated with said merchant for a particular one of said plurality of said data items in response to said converted text-based command and data, said searching including searching for a particular data item having geographical context to the end user consumer based on said determined geographic end user consumer location of interest, said data item having geographical context being selected from the set consisting of;

a geographically based recommendations, a geographically-based promotion, a geographically based audio coupon delivery, and combinations thereof;

generating a speech-based audio representation of said particular data item identified in said database search for playback over said telephone; and

serving said speech-based representation of said particular data item to said telephone.