User-specific contact apparatus and method

• US 8,078,605 B2
• Filed: 10/02/2008
• Issued: 12/13/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 10/02/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: XANT Inc.
• Original Assignee: Insidesales.com
• Inventors: Telschow, Daniel E., Elkington, David Randal, Purdy, Thomas Jeffrey
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Cam-Linh
• Application Number:
  US12/244,015
• Publication Number:
  US 20100088290A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,167 Days
• Field of Search: 707/603, 707/607, 707/694, 707/702, 707/706, 707/781, 707/784, 707/802, 709/203
• US Class Current: 707/706
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising

Abstract

An apparatus and method are disclosed for detecting online activity by a user and contacting the user in conjunction with a preferred response plan.

Claims

1. A system for detecting user activity and connecting active users to agents matching skill sets, the system comprising:

a connection device including processing facilities for executing software and further including network facilities for electronic communication over a network, said connection device further including a storage device group containing at least one storage device operable to contain operating system files and applications; and

instructions stored to said storage device group, said instructions being further executable by said processing facilities to achieve the functions of;

(i) receiving contact information for a user, the contact information including a telephone number,

(ii) storing contact information received for a user in a user-specific profile,

(iii) creating a user-specific access token corresponding to a user from which contact information has been received,

(iv) transmitting a user-specific access token to its corresponding user by way of said network facilities,

(v) selecting a response plan for a user corresponding to a created user-specific access token, the selected response plan specifying a delay time and an agent skill set,

(vi) following said transmission, receiving by way of said network facilities at times of user activity the user-specific access token corresponding to the active user,

(vii) upon reception of a user-specific access token, identifying the response plan selected for the user corresponding to the received user-specific access token,

(viii) upon identification of a response plan, executing a delay time specified by the identified response plan selected for the user of the corresponding received user-specific access token,

(ix) following reception of a user-specific access token, retrieving the telephone number included within the received contact information for the user of the corresponding received user-specific access token,

(x) following the execution of a delay time specified by an identified response plan, executing a step to initiate a telephone call to the retrieved telephone number included within the received contact information for the user of the corresponding received user-specific access token, and

(xi) following the identification of a response plan, selecting an agent having a skill set specified by the identified response plan.

2. A system according to claim 1, further comprising telephonic equipment functional to initiate a telephone call to a selected telephone number, and further wherein said instructions are further executable to perform the function of:

(xii) following the execution of a delay time specified by an identified response plan, dialing the telephone number included within the received contact information for the user of the corresponding received user-specific access token.

3. A system according to claim 1, wherein the user-specific access token is a browser cookie.

4. A system according to claim 1, wherein the user-specific access token corresponds to a URL.

5. A system according to claim 1, wherein in the transmitting a user-specific access token, a plurality of URLs are transmitted, each URL corresponding to a particular offer or service.

6. A system according to claim 5, wherein said transmission of said plurality of URLs is by way of an email message containing the plurality of URLs.

7. A system according to claim 1, wherein in the reception of user-specific access tokens, information relating to the access of the active user is received.

8. A system according to claim 1, wherein said instructions are further executable to perform the function of:

(xi) adjusting a response plan according to received access related information.

9. A system according to claim 1, wherein said instructions are executable to select a response plan for a user specifying a delay time as soon as possible, and further wherein in the execution of a delay time, said instructions are executable to delay the execution of a step to initiate a telephone call to the retrieved telephone number as soon as possible if so specified within a selected response plan.

10. A method for detecting user activity and connecting active users to agents matching skill sets, said method utilizing a network and a storage device, said method comprising:

receiving contact information for a user, the contact information including a telephone number;

storing contact information received for a user in a user-specific profile on the storage device;

transmitting a user-specific access token to its corresponding user over the network;

selecting a response plan for a user corresponding to a transmitted user-specific access token, the selected response plan specifying a delay time and an agent skill set;

receiving over the network at times of user activity the user-specific access token corresponding to the active user;

identifying the response plan selected for the user corresponding to the received user-specific access token;

upon identification of a response plan, executing a delay time specified by the identified response plan selected for the user of the corresponding received user-specific access token;

retrieving the telephone number included within the stored contact information for the user of the corresponding received user-specific access token;

following the execution of a delay time specified by an identified response plan, placing a telephone call to the telephone number included within the received contact information for the user of the corresponding received user-specific access token;

selecting an agent having a skill set specified by the identified response plan; and

connecting the user to the selected agent.