Method and system for providing information and advertising content in a telephone system
First Claim
1. A method for operating a directory assistance process adapted to provide a targeted message to incoming callers totally or substantially free of one or more 411-type directory assistance calling charges, the method comprising:
- receiving a phone call from an incoming caller, the call being provided through at least a telecommunication network;
receiving a voice based request for information associated with directory assistance from the incoming caller through at least the telecommunication network;
determining phone number information in response to the request through one or more first databases, the phone number information being associated with the information associated with directory assistance;
identifying a phone number associated with the incoming caller using a caller identification process;
querying at least one of the one or more databases to ascertain a match between the phone number associated with the incoming caller from the caller identification process and at least one of a plurality of identifiers in the at least one database, the at least one of the plurality of identifiers being related to at least one associated message;
determining at least one message among a plurality of messages, having a determined value, associated with the at least one of the plurality of identifiers based upon at least the phone number identified using the caller identification process, wherein said determined value is selected in part based on an expected value calculation, the expected value calculation being an expected value to be received by said system by playing said selected message among said one or more messages;
transmitting the determined message from the at least one database to the incoming caller through at least the telecommunication network; and
transmitting the phone number information to the incoming caller through at least the telecommunication network while the incoming call is totally or substantially free from one or more 411-type directory assistance charges, the one or more directory assistance charges being offset at least in part by the determined value of the at least one message.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method for operating a directory assistance process adapted to provide a targeted message to incoming callers totally or substantially free of one or more 411-type directory assistance calling charges. The method includes receiving a phone call from an incoming caller and receiving a voice based request for information associated with directory assistance from the caller. The method also includes determining phone number information in response to the request through one or more first databases and identifying a phone number associated with the incoming caller using a caller identification process. The method further includes querying at least one database to ascertain a match between the phone number associated with the incoming caller and at least one of a plurality of identifiers in the at least one database, determining at least one message, transmitting the determined message to the incoming caller, and transmitting the phone number information to the incoming caller.
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Citations
30 Claims
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1. A method for operating a directory assistance process adapted to provide a targeted message to incoming callers totally or substantially free of one or more 411-type directory assistance calling charges, the method comprising:
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receiving a phone call from an incoming caller, the call being provided through at least a telecommunication network; receiving a voice based request for information associated with directory assistance from the incoming caller through at least the telecommunication network; determining phone number information in response to the request through one or more first databases, the phone number information being associated with the information associated with directory assistance; identifying a phone number associated with the incoming caller using a caller identification process; querying at least one of the one or more databases to ascertain a match between the phone number associated with the incoming caller from the caller identification process and at least one of a plurality of identifiers in the at least one database, the at least one of the plurality of identifiers being related to at least one associated message; determining at least one message among a plurality of messages, having a determined value, associated with the at least one of the plurality of identifiers based upon at least the phone number identified using the caller identification process, wherein said determined value is selected in part based on an expected value calculation, the expected value calculation being an expected value to be received by said system by playing said selected message among said one or more messages; transmitting the determined message from the at least one database to the incoming caller through at least the telecommunication network; and transmitting the phone number information to the incoming caller through at least the telecommunication network while the incoming call is totally or substantially free from one or more 411-type directory assistance charges, the one or more directory assistance charges being offset at least in part by the determined value of the at least one message. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A method for operating a directory assistance process adapted to provide a targeted message to requesters substantially free of one or more 411-type directory assistance calling charges, the method comprising:
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receiving a data transmission from a requester, wherein the data transmission is related to a request for directory assistance information and the data transmission is communicated through a wireless telecommunications data protocol operating on at least a telecommunications network; determining phone number information in response to the data transmission through one or more first databases, the phone number information being associated with the directory assistance information; identifying a phone number associated with the requester using a wireless number identification process; querying at least one database to ascertain a match between the phone number associated with the requester and at least one of a plurality of identifiers in the at least one database, at least one of the plurality of identifiers being related to at least one associated message; determining at least one message among a plurality of messages, having a determined value, associated with the at least one of the plurality of identifiers based upon at least the phone number identified using the wireless number identification process, wherein said determined value is selected in part based on an expected value calculation, the expected value calculation being an expected value to be received by said system by playing said selected message among said one or more messages; transmitting the determined message from the at least one database to the requester through at least the telecommunication network; and transmitting the phone number information to the requester through at least the telecommunication network while the requester is substantially free from one or more 411-type directory assistance charges, the one or more directory assistance charges being offset at least in part by the determined value of the at least one message. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
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24. A system for operating a directory assistance process adapted to provide a targeted message to incoming callers totally or substantially free of one or more 411-type directory assistance calling charges, the system comprising:
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a memory; and a processor coupled to the memory and adapted to; receive a phone call from an incoming caller, the call being provided through at least a telecommunication network, receive a voice based request for information associated with directory assistance from the caller through at least the telecommunication network, determine phone number information in response to the request through one or more first databases stored in the memory, the phone number information being associated with the information associated with directory assistance, identify a phone number associated with the incoming caller using a caller identification process, query at least one of the one or more databases stored in the memory to ascertain a match between the phone number associated with the incoming caller from the caller identification process and at least one of a plurality of identifiers in the at least one database stored in the memory, the at least one of the plurality of identifiers being related to at least one associated message, determine at least one message among a plurality of messages, having a determined value, associated with the at least one of the plurality of identifiers based upon at least the phone number identified using the caller identification process, wherein said determined value is selected in part based on an expected value calculation, the expected value calculation being an expected value to be received by said system by playing said selected message among said one or more messages, transmit the determined message from the at least one database to the incoming caller through at least the telecommunication network, and transmit the phone number information to the incoming caller through at least the telecommunication network while the incoming call is totally or substantially free from one or more 411-type directory assistance charges, the one or more directory assistance charges being offset at least in part by the determined value of the at least one message. - View Dependent Claims (25)
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26. A non-transitory computer program product stored on a computer-readable storage medium for operating a directory assistance process adapted to provide a targeted message to incoming callers totally or substantially free of one or more 411-type directory assistance calling charges, the computer program product comprising:
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code for receiving a phone call from an incoming caller, the call being provided through at least a telecommunication network; code for receiving a voice based request for information associated with directory assistance from the caller through at least the telecommunication network; code for determining phone number information in response to the request through one or more first databases, the phone number information being associated with the information associated with directory assistance; code for identifying a phone number associated with the incoming caller using a caller identification process; code for querying at least one of the one or more databases to ascertain a match between the phone number associated with the incoming caller from the caller identification process and at least one of a plurality of identifiers in the at least one database, the at least one of the plurality of identifiers being related to at least one associated message; code for determining at least one message among a plurality of messages, having a determined value, associated with the at least one of the plurality of identifiers based upon at least the phone number identified using the caller identification process, wherein said determined value is selected in part based on an expected value calculation, the expected value calculation being an expected value to be received by said system by playing said selected message among said one or more messages; code for transmitting the determined message from the at least one database to the incoming caller through at least the telecommunication network; and code for transmitting the phone number information to the incoming caller through at least the telecommunication network while the incoming call is totally or substantially free from one or more 411-type directory assistance charges, the one or more directory assistance charges being offset at least in part by the determined value of the at least one message.
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27. A method of using a directory assistance system adapted to provide a targeted message to incoming callers totally or substantially free of one or more 411-type directory assistance calling charges, the method comprising:
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placing a phone call from a communications handset, the call being placed by a caller through at least a telecommunication network, wherein a phone number associated with the communications handset is identified using a caller ID process; providing a voice based request for information associated with directory assistance through at least the telecommunication network, wherein phone number information is determined in response to the voice based request utilizing one or more databases; receiving a determined message at the communications handset, the determined message having been determined by querying at least one of the one or more databases to ascertain a match between the phone number associated with the communications handset and at least one of a plurality of identifiers in the at least one database, and associating the determined message with the plurality of identifiers, wherein the determined messages is at least one message among a plurality of messages having a determined value, wherein said determined value is selected in part based on an expected value calculation, the expected value calculation being an expected value to be received by said system by playing said selected message among said one or more messages; and receiving the phone number information at the communications handset utilizing at least the telecommunication network.
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28. A system for providing a directory assistance process adapted to provide a targeted message to incoming callers totally or substantially free of one or more 411-type directory assistance calling charges, the system comprising:
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a plurality of handsets, wherein each of the handsets is identified with a phone number and is coupled to at least a telecommunication network; one or more servers having an input handler, wherein the input handler is adapted to receive; a phone call from an incoming caller, the call being provided through at least the telecommunication network, and a voice based request for information associated with directory assistance from the incoming caller through at least the telecommunication network; one or more databases coupled to the one or more servers;
a classification engine coupled to the one or more servers and adapted to;determine phone number information in response to the request through the one or more databases, the phone number information being associated with the information associated with directory assistance, query at least one of the one or more databases to ascertain a match between the phone number associated with one of the plurality of handsets and at least one of a plurality of identifiers in the at least one database, the at least one of the plurality of identifiers being related to at least one associated message, and determine at least one message among a plurality of messages, having a determined value, associated with the at least one of the plurality of identifiers based upon at least the phone number associated with the one of the plurality of handsets, wherein said determined value is selected in part based on an expected value calculation, the expected value calculation being an expected value to be received by said system by playing said selected message among said one or more messages; one or more servers having an output handler adapted to; transmit the determined message from the at least one database to the incoming caller through at least the telecommunication network, and transmit the phone number information to the incoming caller through at least the telecommunication network while the incoming call is totally or substantially free from one or more 411-type directory assistance charges, the one or more directory assistance charges being offset at least in part by the determined value of the at least one message. - View Dependent Claims (29, 30)
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Specification