Methods and apparatuses for pay-per-call advertising in mobile/wireless applications
First Claim
1. A method, comprising:
- assigning a first telephonic reference of a connection provider to an advertiser of an advertisement to represent a separate telephonic reference of the advertiser within the advertisement;
providing the advertisement to a mobile device via Short Message Service (SMS) or Wireless Application Protocol (WAP), the advertisement to include the first telephonic reference of the connection provider;
receiving from the mobile device a telephone call to the first telephonic reference of the connection provider;
connecting the telephone call received at the connection provider to the separate telephonic reference of the advertiser to provide a telephonic connection between the mobile device and the advertiser; and
billing the advertiser for the advertisement in response to the telephonic connection between the mobile device and the advertiser provided via the first telephonic reference.
29 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Methods and apparatuses to connect telephone calls and track information about the telephone calls resulting from advertisements on mobile/wireless media channels. In one embodiment, a method includes: assigning a telephone number to an advertiser, one of the telephone number and a reference to the telephone number to be included in an advertisement provided to an end user via a wireless media; and, monitoring telephone connections to the telephone number to bill the advertiser for the advertisement in response to each telephone connection to the telephone number. In one embodiment, a method includes: a first party providing an advertisement to a mobile device on behalf of an advertiser, the advertisement to include at least a reference to a telephonic connection with the advertiser; and, the first party collecting a fee from the advertiser in response to a telephonic connection being established between the advertiser and customer.
-
Citations
40 Claims
-
1. A method, comprising:
-
assigning a first telephonic reference of a connection provider to an advertiser of an advertisement to represent a separate telephonic reference of the advertiser within the advertisement; providing the advertisement to a mobile device via Short Message Service (SMS) or Wireless Application Protocol (WAP), the advertisement to include the first telephonic reference of the connection provider; receiving from the mobile device a telephone call to the first telephonic reference of the connection provider; connecting the telephone call received at the connection provider to the separate telephonic reference of the advertiser to provide a telephonic connection between the mobile device and the advertiser; and billing the advertiser for the advertisement in response to the telephonic connection between the mobile device and the advertiser provided via the first telephonic reference. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
-
-
14. A method, comprising:
-
assigning a telephonic reference of a connection provider to represent a separate telephonic reference of a third party; providing content information in a visual format to a mobile device, the content information including the telephonic reference of the connection provider; receiving from the mobile device a telephone call to the telephonic reference of the connection provider; connecting the telephone call received at the connection provider to the separate telephonic reference of the third party to provide a telephonic connection between the mobile device and the third party; and billing the third party for the providing of the content information to the mobile device in response to the telephonic connection being provided between the mobile device and the third party via the telephonic reference of the connection provider. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17)
-
-
18. A method, comprising:
-
assigning a telephonic reference of a connection provider to an advertiser of an advertisement to represent a separate telephonic reference of the advertiser within the advertisement; providing the advertisement to a mobile device in a visual format via a wireless media, the advertisement including the telephonic reference of the connection provider; establishing a telephone call between the mobile device and the connection provider using the telephonic reference of the connection provider; connecting the established telephone call to the separate telephonic reference of the advertiser to provide a telephonic connection between the mobile device and the advertiser; and billing the advertiser for the advertisement in response to the telephonic connection between the receiving device and the advertiser provided via the telephonic reference. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20)
-
-
21. A system, comprising:
-
means for assigning a first telephonic reference of a connection provider to an advertiser of an advertisement to represent a separate telephonic reference of the advertiser within the advertisement; means for providing the advertisement to a mobile device via Short Message Service (SMS) or Wireless Application Protocol (WAP), the advertisement to include the first telephonic reference of the connection provider; means for receiving from the mobile device a telephone call to the first telephonic reference of the connection provider; means for connecting the telephone call received at the connection provider to the separate telephonic reference of the advertiser to provide a telephonic connection between the mobile device and the advertiser; and means for billing the advertiser for the advertisement in response to the telephonic connection between the mobile device and the advertiser provided via the first telephonic reference. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24)
-
-
25. A system, comprising:
-
means for assigning a telephonic reference of a connection provider to represent a separate telephonic reference of a third party; means for providing content information in a visual format to a mobile device, the content information including the telephonic reference of the connection provider; means for receiving from the mobile device a telephone call to the telephonic reference of the connection provider; means for connecting the telephone call received at the connection provider to the separate telephonic reference of the third party to provide a telephonic connection between the mobile device and the third party; and means for billing the third party for the providing of the content information to the mobile device in response to the telephonic connection being provided between the mobile device and the third party via the telephonic reference of the connection provider. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27)
-
-
28. A system, comprising:
-
means for assigning a telephonic reference of a connection provider to an advertiser of an advertisement to represent a separate telephonic reference of the advertiser within the advertisement; means for providing the advertisement to a mobile device in a visual format via a wireless media, the advertisement including the telephonic reference of the connection provider; means for establishing a telephone call between the mobile device and the connection provider using the telephonic reference of the connection provider; means for connecting the established telephone call to the separate telephonic reference of the advertiser to provide a telephonic connection between the mobile device and the advertiser; and means for billing the advertiser for the advertisement in response to the telephonic connection between the receiving device and the advertiser provided via the telephonic reference. - View Dependent Claims (29, 30)
-
-
31. A machine-readable media storing instructions, the instructions causing a data processing system to perform a method, the method comprising:
-
assigning a first telephonic reference of a connection provider to an advertiser of an advertisement to represent a separate telephonic reference of the advertiser within the advertisement; providing the advertisement to a mobile device via Short Message Service (SMS) or Wireless Application Protocol (WAP), the advertisement to include the first telephonic reference of the connection provider; receiving from the mobile device a telephone call to the first telephonic reference of the connection provider; connecting the telephone call received at the connection provider to the separate telephonic reference of the advertiser to provide a telephonic connection between the mobile device and the advertiser; and billing the advertiser for the advertisement in response to the telephonic connection between the mobile device and the advertiser provided via the first telephonic reference. - View Dependent Claims (32, 33)
-
-
34. A machine-readable media storing instructions, the instructions causing a data processing system to perform a method, the method comprising:
-
assigning a telephonic reference of a connection provider to represent a separate telephonic reference of a third party; providing content information in a visual format to a mobile device, the content information including the telephonic reference of the connection provider; receiving from the mobile device a telephone call to the telephonic reference of the connection provider; connecting the telephone call received at the connection provider to the separate telephonic reference of the third party to provide a telephonic connection between the mobile device and the third party; and billing the third party for the providing of the content information to the mobile device in response to the telephonic connection being provided between the mobile device and the third party via the telephonic reference of the connection provider. - View Dependent Claims (35, 36, 37)
-
-
38. A machine-readable media storing instructions, the instructions causing a data processing system to perform a method, the method comprising:
-
assigning a telephonic reference of a connection provider to an advertiser of an advertisement to represent a separate telephonic reference of the advertiser within the advertisement; providing the advertisement to a mobile device in a visual format via a wireless media, the advertisement including the telephonic reference of the connection provider; establishing a telephone call between the mobile device and the connection provider using the telephonic reference of the connection provider; connecting the established telephone call to the separate telephonic reference of the advertiser to provide a telephonic connection between the mobile device and the advertiser; and billing the advertiser for the advertisement in response to the telephonic connection between the receiving device and the advertiser provided via the telephonic reference. - View Dependent Claims (39, 40)
-
Specification