Gate keeper
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A computer-implemented method to facilitate contact between a service provider and a consumer, the method comprising:
- presenting a user interface including a list of categories for the consumer to the service provider, wherein the list of categories for the consumer includes blocked, new and unassigned;
receiving input from the service provider assigning the consumer to a category from the list of categories;
presenting an option to the consumer for requesting telephonic contact with the service provider;
in response to the consumer selecting the option, determining by a computer whether the service provider has, prior to the consumer selecting the option, requested the computer to block telephonic contact by the consumer by assigning the category to the consumer using the user interface; and
in response to a determination that the service provider permits telephonic contact by the consumer, establishing telephonic contact between the service provider and the consumer, wherein the establishing of telephonic contact includes contacting the consumer and contacting the service provider.
36 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
According to one embodiment of the present invention, a method of gate keeping contact between a plurality of users is disclosed. The method includes: providing a central network to establish communication between the plurality of users; and each of the plurality of users having access to a facility to approve or disapprove of any of the plurality of users to permit communication between respective users.
-
Citations
24 Claims
-
1. A computer-implemented method to facilitate contact between a service provider and a consumer, the method comprising:
-
presenting a user interface including a list of categories for the consumer to the service provider, wherein the list of categories for the consumer includes blocked, new and unassigned; receiving input from the service provider assigning the consumer to a category from the list of categories; presenting an option to the consumer for requesting telephonic contact with the service provider; in response to the consumer selecting the option, determining by a computer whether the service provider has, prior to the consumer selecting the option, requested the computer to block telephonic contact by the consumer by assigning the category to the consumer using the user interface; and in response to a determination that the service provider permits telephonic contact by the consumer, establishing telephonic contact between the service provider and the consumer, wherein the establishing of telephonic contact includes contacting the consumer and contacting the service provider. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
-
-
8. A computer-implemented method to facilitate contact between a service provider and a consumer, the method comprising:
-
receiving from the service provider; contact information of the service provider, including a telephone number; and a listing describing a service of the service provider; presenting a user interface including a plurality of categories for the consumer to the service provider, wherein the plurality of categories for the consumer includes a category of blocked, a category of new and a category of unassigned; receiving input from the service provider to select at least one consumer from the user interface and assign the selected consumer to one of the plurality of categories; presenting to the consumer the listing describing the service of the service provider; upon the consumer requesting telephonic contact with the service provider, determining by a computer whether the service provider has, prior to the consumer requesting telephonic contact with the service provider, requested to block telephonic contact by the consumer by assigning the consumer with the category of blocked; in response to a determination that the service provider permits telephonic contact by the consumer, establishing telephonic contact between the service provider and the consumer, wherein the establishing of telephonic contact includes contacting the consumer and contacting the service provider using the contact information of the service provider; and in response to a determination that the service provider does not permit contact by the consumer based on the category of blocked, blocking the consumer from telephonic contact with the service provider. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
-
-
17. A system comprising:
-
a processor; and memory coupled to the processor, the memory storing instructions to cause the processor to; present a user interface including a list of categories for a consumer to a service provider, wherein the list of categories for the consumer includes blocked, new and unassigned; receive input from the service provider assigning the consumer to a category from the list of categories; present an option via a server to the consumer for requesting email contact with the service provider; determine whether the service provider has, prior to the consumer selecting the option, requested to block email contact by the consumer; and provide email contact between the service provider and the consumer via contacting the consumer and contacting the service provider, in response to a determination that the service provider permits email contact by the consumer. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20)
-
-
21. An article of manufacture to facilitate contact between a service provider and a consumer, the article comprising:
a non-transitory machine readable storage medium that provides instructions that, if executed by a machine, will cause the machine to perform operations including; presenting a user interface including a list of categories for the consumer to the service provider, wherein the list of categories for the consumer includes blocked, new and unassigned; receiving input from the service provider assigning the consumer to a category from the list of categories; presenting an option to the consumer for requesting telephonic contact with the service provider; in response to the consumer selecting the option, determining whether the service provider has, prior to the consumer selecting the option, requested to block telephonic contact by the consumer; and in response to a determination that the service provider permits telephonic contact by the consumer, establishing telephonic contact between the service provider and the consumer, wherein the establishing of telephonic contact includes contacting the consumer and contacting the service provider. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24)
Specification