Apparatus, method, and manufacture for managing scalable and traceable exchanges of content between advertisers and publishers for mobile devices

• US 8,391,798 B2
• Filed: 09/16/2008
• Issued: 03/05/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 09/16/2008
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: R2 Solutions LLC (Acacia Research Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Yahoo! Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Poola, Krishna Leela, Kanuri, Kalyan Kumar
• Primary Examiner(s): Ajibade Akonai, Olumide T
• Assistant Examiner(s): Peaches, Randy
• Application Number:
  US12/211,730
• Publication Number:
  US 20100069096A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,631 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 455/67.11
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/12 Messaging; Mailboxes; Announcements

Abstract

A service exchange is provided. The service exchange receives text messages (such as SMS messages), such as search queries sent by a user to the service exchange, or a text message sent from the user to another user. The service exchange determines service providers most relevant to the user, and provides the information related to the most relevant service providers to the user, including, for each relevant service provider provided to the user, a dynamically assigned, obfuscated phone number for contacting the service provider.

Claims

1. A method for providing information, comprising:

determining a service related to content in a messaging service message sent by a user;

ranking service providers for the determined service based on at least relevancy to the determined service, wherein the relevancy is determined based on a machine learning ranking system, and wherein factors for determining the relevancy include a location of the service provider, the age of the user, the gender of the user, a quantity of transactions successfully completed by the service provider, and a user location, wherein the user location is a user-requested location if the user requested a location, and wherein the user location is the user'"'"'s current location otherwise;

determining one or more top-ranked service providers to provide to the customer, based on the determined service, wherein the determination is accomplished by a processor employing processor-executable code;

for each of the determined one or more top-ranked results, dynamically assigning an associated obfuscated phone number for phone interactions between the user and the service provider of the result; and

providing the determined one or more of the top ranked results of service providers to the customer, including, for each of the provided results, a name of the service provider, and the associated obfuscated phone number.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein

the messaging service message is a short messaging service (SMS) message, a multimedia messaging service (MMS) message, or an instant message (IM) message.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the messaging service message is an SMS message.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein

the relevancy includes distance between a current location of the user and a location of the service provider.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the messaging service message is a search request for the service related to the content in the parsed messaging service message.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the messaging service message is a personal messaging service method sent from the user to another user.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the associated obfuscated phone number includes:

dynamically assigning an obfuscated phone number for the user to contact the service provider, wherein the associated obfuscated phone number is different from a true contact number for the service provider;

assigning an expiration time for the associated obfuscated contact number;

storing an association between the obfuscated contact number for the service provider, the true contact number of the contact provider, the user, and the expiration time;

connecting between the user and the service provider using the true contact number of the service provider when the user uses the associated obfuscated contact number so that the user may contact the service provider by phone using the associated obfuscated phone number such that true contact information of the user is not disclosed to the service provider and true contact information of the service provider is not disclosed to the user; and

causing an expiration of the associated obfuscated contact number in an absence of communication between the user and the service provider before the expiration time.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

recording calls made by the user to the service provider using the associated obfuscated contact number;

converting the recorded call to text;

employing a machine-learning algorithm to determine results of the call, including whether the transaction between the user and the service provider was successful during the call; and

charging a commission to the service provider based on an advertising model that was pre-selected by the service provider based on the results of the call determined by the machine-learning algorithm.

9. A network device, comprising:

a transceiver for receiving and sending information; and

a search portal device that is arranged to, in conjunction with the transceiver, enable actions, comprising;

determining a service related to content in a messaging service message sent by a user;

ranking service providers for the determined service based on at least;

relevancy to the determined service, wherein the relevancy is determined based on a machine learning ranking system, and wherein factors for determining the relevancy include a location of the service provider, the age of the user, the gender of the user, a quantity of transactions successfully completed by the service provider, and a user location, wherein the user location is a user-requested location if the user requested a location, and wherein the user location is the user'"'"'s current location otherwise;

determining one or more top-ranked service providers to provide to the customer based on the determined service;

for each of the determined one or more top-ranked results, dynamically assigning an associated obfuscated phone number for phone interactions between the user and the service provider of the result; and

providing the determined one or more of the top ranked results of service providers to the customer, including, for each of the provided results, a name of the service provider, and the associated obfuscated phone number.

10. The network device of claim 9, wherein

the search portal device is further arranged such that the relevancy includes distance between a current location of the user and a location of the service provider.

11. The network device of claim 9, wherein the search portal device is further arranged such that determining the associated obfuscated phone number includes:

dynamically assigning an obfuscated phone number for the user to contact the service provider, wherein the associated obfuscated phone number is different from a true contact number for the service provider;

assigning an expiration time for the associated obfuscated contact number;

storing an association between the obfuscated contact number for the service provider, the true contact number of the contact provider, the user, and the expiration time;

connecting between the user and the service provider using the true contact number of the service provider when the user uses the associated obfuscated contact number so that the user may contact the service provider by phone using the associated obfuscated phone number such that true contact information of the user is not disclosed to the service provider and true contact information of the service provider is not disclosed to the user; and

causing an expiration of the associated obfuscated contact number in an absence of communication between the user and the service provider before the expiration time.

12. The network device of claim 9, where the search portal device is arranged to enable further actions in conjunction with the transceiver, including:

recording calls made by the user to the service provider using the associated obfuscated contact number;

converting the recorded call to text;

employing a machine-learning algorithm to determine results of the call, including whether the transaction between the user and the service provider was successful during the call; and

charging a commission to the service provider based on an advertising model that was pre-selected by the service provider based on the results of the call determined by the machine-learning algorithm.

13. A system for providing information, comprising:

a user mobile network device that is arranged to send and receive messaging service messages;

a plurality of service providers;

a service exchange network device that is arranged to perform actions, including;

determining a service related to content in a messaging service message sent by user mobile network device;

ranking the service providers for the determined service based on at least relevancy to the determined service, wherein the relevancy is determined based on a machine learning ranking system, and wherein factors for determining the relevancy include a location of the service provider, the age of the user, the gender of the user, a quantity of transactions successfully completed by the service provider, and a user location, wherein the user location is a user-requested location if the user requested a location, and wherein the user location is the user'"'"'s current location otherwise;

determining one or more top ranked service providers to provide to the customer based on the determined service;

for each of the determined one or more top-ranked results, dynamically assigning an associated obfuscated phone number for phone interactions between the user and the service provider of the result; and

providing the determined one or more of the top ranked results of service providers to the customer, including, for each of the provided results, a name of the service provider, and the associated obfuscated phone number.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein

the service exchange network device is further arranged such that the relevancy includes distance between a current location of the user and a location of the service provider.

15. An article of manufacture including non-transitory processor-readable medium having processor-executable code stored therein, which when executed by one or more processors, enables actions for providing information, comprising:

determining a service related to content in an messaging service message, sent by a user;

ranking service providers for the determined service based on at least relevancy to the determined service, wherein the relevancy is determined based on a machine learning ranking system, and wherein factors for determining the relevancy include a location of the service provider, the age of the user, the gender of the user, a quantity of transactions successfully completed by the service provider, and a user location, wherein the user location is a user-requested location if the user requested a location, and wherein the user location is the user'"'"'s current location otherwise;

determining one or more top ranked service providers to provide, to the customer based on the determined service;

for each of the determined one or more top-ranked results, dynamically assigning an associated obfuscated phone number for phone interactions between the user and the service provider of the result; and

providing the determined one or more of the top ranked results of service providers to the customer, including, for each of the provided results, a name of the service provider, and the associated obfuscated phone number.

16. The article of manufacture of claim 15, wherein

the relevancy includes distance between a current location of the user and a location of the service provider.

17. The article of manufacture of claim 15, wherein:

determining the associated obfuscated phone number includes;

dynamically assigning an obfuscated phone number for the user to contact the service provider, wherein the associated obfuscated phone number is different from a true contact number for the service provider;

assigning an expiration time for the associated obfuscated contact number;

storing an association between the obfuscated contact number for the service provider, the true contact number of the contact provider, the user, and the expiration time;

connecting between the user and the service provider using the true contact number of the service provider when the user uses the associated obfuscated contact number so that the user may contact the service provider by phone using the associated obfuscated phone number such that true contact information of the user is not disclosed to the service provider and true contact information of the service provider is not disclosed to the user; and

causing an expiration of the associated obfuscated contact number in an absence of communication between the user and the service provider before the expiration time.