High volume call advertising system and method

• US 8,107,600 B1
• Filed: 02/06/2006
• Issued: 01/31/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 02/07/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sean P O'Keeffe
• Original Assignee: Sean P O'Keeffe
• Inventors: O'Keeffe, Sean P.
• Primary Examiner(s): Phan, Joseph T
• Application Number:
  US11/347,970
• Time in Patent Office: 2,185 Days
• Field of Search: 379/88.22, 379/69, 379/88.17
• US Class Current: 379/88.22
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/08 Metering calls to called party , i.e. B-party charged for the communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/09 Third party charged communications
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2207/30 third party service providers
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/0192 Sponsored, subsidised calls via advertising, e.g. calling cards with ads or connecting to special ads, free calling time by purchasing goods
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/4878 Advertisement messages
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/0036 where the data service is an information service

Abstract

Disclosed is a method and system for providing third party advertisements with the use of a delayed call connection system, comprising an answering system configured to play an advertisement message after answering a call to a business; a plurality of advertisers'"'"' messages stored in memory and accessible by said answering system, whereby at least one of the advertisers is not related to the business; and a communication system configured to connect the telephone caller to the business after the plurality of advertisers'"'"' messages have been played.

Claims

1. A system to provide advertising to a high volume of calls received at about the same time, the system comprising:

a broadcast system capable of reaching a large number of individuals at about the same time;

a promotional effort communicated by a broadcast notice by the broadcast system, which creates a high volume of calls to the broadcast system, wherein the promotional effort comprises an incentive to place calls as suggested by the notice from the broadcast system;

an answering system configured to play an advertisement message after answering the calls placed to the broadcast system;

a plurality of advertisers'"'"' messages stored in memory and accessible by said answering system, whereby at least one of the advertisers is not related to the broadcast system; and

a communication system configured to connect the individual to the broadcast system after at least one of the plurality of advertisers'"'"' messages has been played.

2. The system according to claim 1, where the high volume of calls is at least ten calls.

3. The system according to claim 1, where the high volume of calls is at least one hundred calls.

4. The system according to claim 1, where the high volume of calls is at least one thousand calls.

5. The system according to claim 1, where the high volume of calls is at least ten thousand calls.

6. A method for a communication answering system to handle response to a media broadcast incentive comprising:

receiving notice that an incentive broadcast has been made to an audience of a media broadcast source;

receiving a communication responsive to the incentive broadcast from members of the audience and storing information about the order in which each communication responsive to the incentive broadcast was received;

providing at least one selected advertisement in its entirety to each of the members of the audience from whom communications have been received, wherein the nature of the selected advertisement is not related to the media broadcast source; and

providing the incentive to at least one of the members of the audience from whom communications has been received.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the media broadcast is a radio broadcast.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the communication comprises at least one of a call associated with an interne protocol address, a URL, a domain name and an e-mail address.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein the incentive comprises a prize to the audience member whose communication order matches a random number.

10. The method of claim 6, wherein the incentive comprises a telephone game.

11. The method of claim 6, wherein the incentive comprises entry into a lottery.

12. The method of claim 6, wherein the communication originates from at least one of a computer, a VoIP phone, a cellular telephone or a personal digital assistant (“

PDA”

).

13. The method of claim 6, wherein the advertisement comprises at least one of image, text, video and audio.

14. The method of claim 6, further comprising accepting an input from at least one of the members of the audience from whom communications have been received after at least one advertisement has been provided.

15. The method of claim 6, wherein providing a selected advertisement comprises selecting an advertisement based at least in part on information associated with the audience member, wherein the information is derived from the member'"'"'s communication.

16. A delayed-communication connection system comprising:

a media broadcast source configured to broadcast an incentive to an audience;

an answering system configured to receive at least one communication responsive to the incentive broadcast from at least one member of the audience and to store information about the time at which each communication responsive to the incentive was received;

a memory storing a plurality of advertiser'"'"'s messages and accessible by the answering system, whereby at least one of the advertisers is not related to the media broadcast source;

a communication system configured to connect at least one of the communications received by the answering system to the media source after at least one selected advertisement has been played in its entirety to the at least one member of the audience from whom a communication has been received;

an incentive fulfillment module associated with the media broadcast source configured to provide an incentive to at least one of the members of the audience from whom communications has been received

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the media broadcast source is a radio broadcast.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein the communication comprises at least one of a call associated with an internet protocol address, a URL, a domain name and an e-mail address.

19. The system of claim 16, wherein the incentive comprises a prize to the audience member whose communication time matches a random number.

20. The system of claim 16, wherein the incentive comprises a telephone game.

21. The system of claim 16, wherein the incentive comprises entry into a lottery.

22. The system of claim 16, wherein the communication originates from at least one of a computer, a VoIP phone, a cellular telephone or a personal digital assistant (“

PDA”

).

23. The system of claim 16, wherein the advertisement comprises at least one of image, text, video and audio.

24. The system of claim 16, wherein a selected advertisement comprises an advertisement selected based at least in part on information associated with the audience member, wherein the information is derived from the member'"'"'s communication.