Method and system to connect consumers to information
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A method, comprising:
- a first party providing an advertisement on Internet on behalf of an advisor, wherein the advertisement is displayed to a user and includes at least a reference to establish a telephonic communication with the advisor and indicates whether the advisor is currently available to communicate at a time when the user is viewing the advertisement;
receiving a user selection corresponding to the advisor, while the advisor is available;
while the advisor is currently available, a central controller using the selection from the user to facilitate initiation of a telephonic connection between the advisor and the user, including the central controller establishing a first telephonic connection with the user and the central controller initiating a second telephonic connection with the advisor to connect the advisor and the user; and
the first party charging an amount for the telephonic connection established between the advisor and the user.
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Abstract
This invention provides for a method of (or apparatus for) facilitating the delivery of advice to consumers using a server unit which can store and display the names and characteristics of experts and then rapidly assist in connecting the expert and consumer for real-time communication. The server can also have the ability to receive keywords from the consumer, match those keywords to one or more experts, and tell the consumer how to contact an expert.
436 Citations
45 Claims
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1. A method, comprising:
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a first party providing an advertisement on Internet on behalf of an advisor, wherein the advertisement is displayed to a user and includes at least a reference to establish a telephonic communication with the advisor and indicates whether the advisor is currently available to communicate at a time when the user is viewing the advertisement; receiving a user selection corresponding to the advisor, while the advisor is available; while the advisor is currently available, a central controller using the selection from the user to facilitate initiation of a telephonic connection between the advisor and the user, including the central controller establishing a first telephonic connection with the user and the central controller initiating a second telephonic connection with the advisor to connect the advisor and the user; and the first party charging an amount for the telephonic connection established between the advisor and the user. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A machine-readable medium containing instructions, which when executed on a data processing system, cause the system to perform a method, the method comprising:
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a first party providing an advertisement on Internet on behalf of an advisor, wherein the advertisement is displayed to a user and includes at least a reference to establish a telephonic communication with the advisor and indicates whether the advisor is currently available to communicate at a time when the user is viewing the advertisement; receiving a user selection corresponding to the advisor, while the advisor is available; while the advisor is currently available, a central controller using the selection from the user to facilitate initiation of a telephonic connection between the advisor and the user, including the central controller establishing a first telephonic connection with the user and the central controller initiating a second telephonic connection with the advisor to connect the advisor and the user; and the first party charging an amount for the telephonic connection established between the advisor and the user. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30)
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31. A system, comprising:
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means for a first party providing an advertisement on Internet on behalf of an advisor, wherein the advertisement is displayed to a user and includes at least a reference to establish a telephonic communication with the advisor and indicates whether the advisor is currently available to communicate at a time when the user is viewing the advertisement; means for receiving a user selection corresponding to the advisor, while the advisor is available; means for a central controller using the selection from the user to facilitate initiation of a telephonic connection between the advisor and the user, while the advisor is currently available, including the central controller establishing a first telephonic connection with the user and the central controller initiating a second telephonic connection with the advisor to connect the advisor and the user; and means for the first party charging an amount for the telephonic connection established between the advisor and the user. - View Dependent Claims (32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45)
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Specification