Regional service by phone
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A method for a telephone gateway device to receive regional service from a distribution server, comprising:
- sending a request for a service in a region to the distribution server;
receiving a list of entities that provide the service in the region and their respective probability parameters from the distribution server, wherein the probability parameters determine an order in which the entities are displayed on the telephone gateway device;
arranging, using the telephone gateway device, an order of the entities in the list through a lottery based on the probability parameters; and
displaying the list.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method is provided to communicate regional services to a telephone gateway device over a public computer network. The method includes a distribution server sending a list of entities offering a desired service in a desired region to the telephone gateway device. The list includes probability parameters that the telephone gateway device uses in a lottery to arrange the order in which the entities are displayed. A service server adjusts the probability parameters based on the amount of information about the respective businesses accessed by the consumers and the price the respective businesses pay for the access.
8 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method for a telephone gateway device to receive regional service from a distribution server, comprising:
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sending a request for a service in a region to the distribution server; receiving a list of entities that provide the service in the region and their respective probability parameters from the distribution server, wherein the probability parameters determine an order in which the entities are displayed on the telephone gateway device; arranging, using the telephone gateway device, an order of the entities in the list through a lottery based on the probability parameters; and displaying the list. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. A method for a distribution server to communicate regional services to a telephone gateway device over a public computer network, comprising:
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receiving a request for a service in a region from the telephone gateway device; and sending, using the distribution server, a list of entities that provide the service in the region and their respective probability parameters to the telephone gateway device, wherein the probability parameters determine an order in which the entities are displayed on the telephone gateway device through a lottery. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10)
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11. A method for a service server to provide listings of regional services to a telephone gateway device over a public computer network, comprising:
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receiving contact information about an entity; receiving a service the entity wishes to provide; receiving a region the entity wishes to target; and generating, using the service server, a token for the entity, the token including a probability parameter used by the telephone gateway device to randomly determine in a lottery an order in which the entity is displayed along with other entities. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification