System and method for an online speaker patch-through
First Claim
1. A system comprising:
- a first logic unit to provide a list of service providers to a user, indicating an availability of each of the service providers;
a second logic unit to receive a selection from the user of a service provided by a selected service provider;
a third logic unit to attempt to establish a real-time communications connection between the user and the selected service provider; and
a fourth logic unit to search a database of service providers for an alternate service provider based on a pre-established set of criteria and to offer the user an option of connecting with the alternate service provider.
32 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Systems and methods described herein may be incorporated into a “service marketplace” system that matches users with potential information or service providers and establishes a real-time communications connection between the user and a selected information provider. In one embodiment, an alternate is selected for the user when the service provider that the user is trying to connect with cannot be reached. In an alternative embodiment, the alternates can be used in conjunction with the service provider that does connect with the user in order to provide a second opinion or possibly deeper background information. In one embodiment, the service providers can either be a live person at the other end of the connection or a recording.
378 Citations
19 Claims
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1. A system comprising:
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a first logic unit to provide a list of service providers to a user, indicating an availability of each of the service providers; a second logic unit to receive a selection from the user of a service provided by a selected service provider; a third logic unit to attempt to establish a real-time communications connection between the user and the selected service provider; and a fourth logic unit to search a database of service providers for an alternate service provider based on a pre-established set of criteria and to offer the user an option of connecting with the alternate service provider. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A method comprising:
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sending, via a computing device, a user a list of personal service providers with an availability of each of the personal service providers indicated; receiving, via the computing device, from the user a selection of a selected personal service provider; attempting, via the computing device, to establish real-time communications between the user and the selected personal service provider; and offering, via the computing device, the user an option to connect to an alternate personal service provider.
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18. A method comprising:
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giving a selected personal service provider an option of connecting, via a communication network, a user to a database of personal service providers when the selected personal service provider can not be reached; searching the database, via a computing device, for at least one matching alternate personal service provider that matches the selected personal service provider based on a pre-established set of criteria; and providing, via the communication network, the user with a list of the at least one matching alternate personal service provider.
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19. A tangible machine-readable storage medium storing instructions which when executed by a computing device cause the computing device to perform a method comprising:
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sending a user a list of personal service providers with the availability of each personal service provider indicated; receiving from the user a selection of a selected personal service provider; attempting to establish real-time communications between the user and the selected personal service provider; and offering the user an option to connect to an alternate personal service provider.
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Specification