System, apparatus and method for generating and ranking contact information and related advertisements in response to query on communication device

• US 8,331,915 B2
• Filed: 07/23/2009
• Issued: 12/11/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 11/17/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Nitesh Ratnakar
• Original Assignee: Nitesh Ratnakar
• Inventors: Ratnakar, Nitesh
• Primary Examiner(s): BALAOING, ARIEL A
• Application Number:
  US12/508,550
• Publication Number:
  US 20090300010A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,237 Days
• Field of Search: 455/414.2, 455/456.1, 701/208, 705/14, 705/14.1
• US Class Current: 455/414.2
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/27453 Directories allowing storage of additional subscriber data, e.g. metadata
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/2746 Sorting, e.g. according to history or frequency of use
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/2757 by data transmission, e.g. downloading
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72457 according to geographic location
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/10 including a GPS signal receiver
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42178 by downloading data to substation equipment
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/4878 Advertisement messages
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/4931 Directory assistance systems

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method, system, and apparatus to download contact information of one or more entities in one or more geographic areas from remote server into die contact list of a communication device. Communication network between remote server and communication device; and contact information databases having identical data fields is provided in remote server and communication device. According to another aspect, communication device application having means to determine communication device location; and having means to retrieve contact information from communication device contact list in response to user query; and sort retrieved contact information in order of their proximity to communication device location is provided. According to another aspect of the invention; apparatus, method, and system for advertising on communication devices in conjunction with contact information of entities is provided. According to yet another aspect of the invention; means to determine popularity and ranking of contact information of entities is provided.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

one or more computing devices;

a first centralized database having data fields for input of contact information;

wherein the contact information included a link attached thereto responsive to a corresponding advertisement;

a second centralized database having data fields for input of advertisements;

a memory having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by one or more of the computing devices, cause one or more of the computing devices to perform operations comprising;

capturing contact information from the first centralized database for one or more contacts;

capturing advertisements from the second centralized database;

downloading and storing the captured contact information, link and advertisements into memory of a communication device;

receiving an input selecting a contact contained in the internal memory of the communication device;

transmitting to the one or more computing devices from the communication device an active link corresponding to the contact information;

linking contact information and corresponding advertisement responsive to the link within the communication device; and

displaying the contact information and the advertisement on the communication device.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the first centralized database is populated by contacts who desire to make their contact information available for downloading to the communication and the second centralized database is populated by contacts who desire to have advertisements downloaded to the communication device together with their contact information.

3. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

associating a category with each of the contacts and displaying the contact list on the communication device with the corresponding contacts for the geographical area of the communication device location grouped by their category.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the contacts are businesses offering services in the geographical area of the communication device location and wherein the advertisements include at least one of images, audio, and video.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the contact information includes phone numbers and wherein the contact information is stored in memory of the communication device in such a manner that allows an operator to use the quick-dialing functionality of the communication device to dial a phone number of a given contact without requiring the operator to manually input the phone number into the dialing pad of the communication device.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein downloading includes downloading from a central server that is not physically attached to the communication device.

7. A method comprising:

providing a first database in a central server, the first database having data fields for input of contact information, wherein the contact information has a link attached thereto responsive to a corresponding advertisement;

providing a second database having data fields for input of advertisements;

downloading and storing the captured contact information and link into an internal memory of a communication device;

receiving an input selecting a contact contained in the internal memory of the communication device;

transmitting to the central server from the communication device an active link corresponding to the contact information;

linking the contact information and the corresponding advertisement responsive to the link;

thereafter

transmitting the advertisement to the communication device; and

displaying the contact information and the advertisement on the communication device.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising saving the advertisement in the internal memory of the communication device.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein providing the second database includes providing the second database in the central server.

10. The method of claim 7, further comprising capturing contact information from the first database for one or more contacts.

11. The method of claim 7, further comprising capturing advertisements from the second database.

12. The method of claim 7, wherein linking the contact information and the corresponding advertisement responsive to the link is performed within the central server.

13. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

storing the contact information and advertisement into the internal memory of the communication device.

14. The method of claim 7, wherein linking the contact information and a corresponding advertisement responsive to the link is performed after receipt of the download request.

15. The method of claim 7, wherein the contact information corresponds to businesses offering services in the geographical area of the communication device.