Method and apparatuses for offline selection of pay-per-call advertisers

• US 8,521,596 B2
• Filed: 06/14/2012
• Issued: 08/27/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 10/06/2003
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Thryv, Inc. (Mudrick Capital Management LP)
• Original Assignee: Ingenio LLC
• Inventors: Altberg, Ebbe, Barach, Marc, Faber, Scott, Fordyce, Michael, Hickson, Chris, Hirson, Ron, Somorjai, John, Van der Linden, Sean
• Primary Examiner(s): Alvarez, Raquel
• Application Number:
  US13/517,754
• Publication Number:
  US 20130012158A1
• Time in Patent Office: 439 Days
• Field of Search: 705/14.73, 705/34, 705/14.49, 705/14.57, 705/14.58, 705/14.69, 379/133
• US Class Current: 705/14.69
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06398 Performance of employee with respect to a job function
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0259 based on store location
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0261 based on user location
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0267 Wireless devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0273 Determination of fees for advertising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0275 Auctions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0277 Online advertisement
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/04 Billing or invoicing
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/2757 by data transmission, e.g. downloading
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/00 Arrangements for metering, time-control or time indication ; Metering, charging or billing arrangements for voice wireline or wireless communications, e.g. VoIP
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/06 Recording class or number of calling , i.e. A-party or called party , i.e. B-party
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/08 Metering calls to called party , i.e. B-party charged for the communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/745 Customizing according to wishes of subscriber, e.g. friends or family
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/8033 location-dependent, e.g. business or home
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/805 Bidding
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/405 Competitive bidding for work items
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/0108 Customization according to wishes of subscriber, e.g. customer preferences, friends and family, selecting services or billing options, Personal Communication Systems [PCS]
• 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 2215/62 Called party billing, e.g. reverse billing, freephone, collect call, 0800 or 0900
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/7435 : Location dependent, e.g. Bussiness or home
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/7457 : Biding
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2242/14 : with services dependent on location where the service is an information service H04M2242/15; services independent of location H04M3/42229
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42008 : Systems for anonymous communication between parties, e.g. by use of disposal contact identifiers
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42059 : Making use of the calling party identifier
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/523 : with call distribution or queueing
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5235 : Dependent on call type or called number [DNIS]

Abstract

Methods and apparatuses to connect telephone calls and track information about the telephone calls resulting from advertisements for groups of advertisers. In one embodiment, a method includes: determining a geographic area after receiving a telephone call to a first telephone number publicized in an advertisement; determining a telephone number of a first advertiser; and connecting the telephone call to the telephone number of the first advertiser, the first advertiser billed for the advertisement based on telephonic connections made to connect the first advertiser and telephone calls to the first telephone number.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, via a communication network, a received telephone call to a single advertisement telephone number associated with a single advertisement associated with a plurality of competing advertisers;

identifying a geographic area related to an origin of the received telephone call;

selecting, via a computing device, a first advertiser from the plurality of competing advertisers, based at least in part on the identified geographic area; and

identifying, via the computing device, a separate previously assigned advertiser telephone number of the first advertiser;

connecting, via the computing device, the received telephone call to the previously assigned advertiser telephone number of the first advertiser to track a telephone connection to the first advertiser established from the received telephone call to the single advertisement telephone number provided in the single advertisement.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

charging, via the computing device, the first advertiser a predetermined fee for the single advertisement in response to connecting the received telephone call, placed to the single advertisement telephone number provided in the single advertisement, to the previously assigned advertiser telephone number of the first advertiser.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the first advertiser from the plurality of competing advertisers, is selected, at least in part, based on the identified geographic area and a respective bid of each of the plurality of competing advertisers for the advertisement.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the first advertiser is charged a fee in accordance with the respective bid of the first advertiser for the single advertisement.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a telephone number of the received telephone call via an automatic number identification service;

wherein the geographic area related to the origin of the received telephone call is determined based on the telephone number of the received telephone call.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving location information from a cellular communication system for the received telephone call;

wherein the geographic area related to the origin of the received telephone call is determined based on the location information.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving location information from a positioning system for the received telephone call;

wherein the geographic area related to the origin of the received telephone call is determined based on the location information.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein:

receiving a zip code in the received telephone call through an interactive voice response system; and

the geographic area related to the origin of the received telephone call is determined based on the zip code.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

routing the received telephone call to a human operator;

wherein the geographic area related to the origin of the received telephone call is determined by the human operator.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein at least one additional selection requirement is determined by the human operator, such that the first advertiser of the plurality of competing advertisers is selected based, at least in part, on the identified geographic area and the at least one additional selection requirement.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a voice indication of a geographic area in the received telephone call;

wherein the geographic area related to the origin of the received telephone call is determined based on the voice indication.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the first advertiser has a plurality of offices, and the identifying the separate previously assigned advertiser telephone number of the first advertiser includes determining a respective office of the plurality of offices based on the geographic area related to the origin of the received telephone call, such that the separate previously assigned advertiser telephone number is associated with the respective office.

13. A system comprising:

at least one processor; and

memory storing instructions configured to instruct the at least one processor to;

receive, via a communication network, a received telephone call to a single advertisement telephone number associated with a single advertisement associated with a plurality of competing advertisers;

identify a geographic area related to an origin of the received telephone call;

select a first advertiser from the plurality of competing advertisers, based at least in part on the identified geographic area; and

identifying a separate previously assigned advertiser telephone number of the first advertiser;

connect the received telephone call to the previously assigned advertiser telephone number of the first advertiser to track a telephone connection to the first advertiser established from the received telephone call to the single advertisement telephone number provided in the single advertisement.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the memory additionally stores instructions configured to instruct the at least one processor to:

charging the first advertiser a predetermined fee for the single advertisement in response to connecting the received telephone call, placed to the single advertisement telephone number provided in the single advertisement, to the previously assigned advertiser telephone number of the first advertiser.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the first advertiser from the plurality of competing advertisers, is selected, at least in part, based on the identified geographic area and a respective bid of each of the plurality of competing advertisers for the advertisement.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the first advertiser is charged a fee in accordance with the respective bid of the first advertiser for the single advertisement.

17. A tangible machine readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by a computing device, cause the computing device to perform a method, the method comprising:

receiving, via a communication network, a received telephone call to a single advertisement telephone number associated with a single advertisement associated with a plurality of competing advertisers;

identifying a geographic area related to an origin of the received telephone call;

selecting a first advertiser from the plurality of competing advertisers, based at least in part on the identified geographic area; and

identifying a separate previously assigned advertiser telephone number of the first advertiser;

connecting the received telephone call to the previously assigned advertiser telephone number of the first advertiser to track a telephone connection to the first advertiser established from the received telephone call to the single advertisement telephone number provided in the single advertisement.

18. The medium of claim 17, wherein the method further comprises:

charging, via the computing device, the first advertiser a predetermined fee for the single advertisement in response to connecting the received telephone call, placed to the single advertisement telephone number provided in the single advertisement, to the previously assigned advertiser telephone number of the first advertiser.

19. The medium of claim 17, wherein the first advertiser from the plurality of competing advertisers, is selected, at least in part, based on the identified geographic area and a respective bid of each of the plurality of competing advertisers for the advertisement.

20. The medium of claim 19, wherein the first advertiser is charged a fee in accordance with the respective bid of the first advertiser for the single advertisement.