Local advertising responses

• US 8,751,308 B2
• Filed: 09/13/2010
• Issued: 06/10/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 09/11/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Wojcicki, Susan, Hashim, Smita, Loiwal, Navneet, Huang, Jingxin
• Primary Examiner(s): Weiss, John G
• Assistant Examiner(s): Anderson, Scott C
• Application Number:
  US12/880,691
• Publication Number:
  US 20110066498A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,366 Days
• Field of Search: 705/14.55
• US Class Current: 705/14.55
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0241 Advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0246 Traffic
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0251 Targeted advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0253 During e-commerce, i.e. online transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0257 User requested
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0261 based on user location
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0267 Wireless devices

Abstract

A computer-implemented method managing telephonic connections is disclosed. The method includes transmitting from a computer server system, for display on an electronic communication device, an advertisement from an advertiser; receiving from the electronic communication device a request to be connected telephonically with the advertiser; automatically playing a predetermined audio message after connecting telephonically with the advertiser; and connecting the electronic communication device telephonically with the advertiser after playing the predetermined audio message.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for managing telephonic connections, the method comprising:

transmitting from a computer server system, for display on an electronic communication device, an advertisement from an advertiser;

receiving, at a calling system and from the electronic communication device, a request to be connected telephonically with the advertiser, the request being received in response to user interaction with the advertisement of the advertiser;

connecting the calling system telephonically to a telephone of the advertiser;

automatically providing, by the calling system, a predetermined audio message to the telephone of the advertiser after connecting telephonically with the telephone of the advertiser, the predetermined audio message identifying the advertisement to the advertiser; and

connecting the electronic communication device telephonically with the telephone of the advertiser after providing the predetermined audio message.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising mapping an identifier from the advertisement to a telephone number for the advertiser and dialing the telephone number.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, wherein the identifier comprises an intermediate private telephone number that is dialed from the electronic communication device and bridged to the advertiser.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising maintaining a pool of intermediate telephone numbers, assigning the intermediate telephone numbers temporarily to advertisements while the advertisements are active on the computer server system, and reassigning the telephone numbers to other advertisements while the other advertisements are active on the computer server system.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 4, wherein the telephone numbers are reassigned to the other advertisements after a predetermined period of time has elapsed since the telephone numbers were previously active.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the predetermined audio message identifies an organization that operates the calling system.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the predetermined audio message identifies the advertiser.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising, in conjunction with providing the predetermined audio message, providing electronic information associated with the predetermined audio message to a computer system associated with the advertiser through a back-channel data connection.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, at the computer server system, information about content requested by a user of the electronic communication device;

receiving data specifying the user interaction with the advertisement; and

in response to the user interaction with the advertisement, providing to the electronic communication device an alternative landing page that is provided for each of a plurality of different advertisers, wherein the provided alternative landing page includes information corresponding to the advertisement.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, wherein the alternative landing page comprises information selected from a group consisting of user reviews concerning the advertiser, a map to a facility associated with the advertiser, and a click-to-call object that when selected by the user causes the user to be connected telephonically with the advertiser.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, further comprising:

identifying a current geographic location of the user; and

selecting information associated with the advertisement or the advertiser that pertains to the current geographic location of the user;

wherein the alternative landing page comprises at least a portion of the selected information.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein connecting the electronic communication device telephonically with a telephone of the advertiser after providing the predetermined audio message comprises:

identifying an audible characteristic of the predetermined audio message; and

connecting the electronic communication device telephonically to a particular telephone extension of the advertiser based on the audible characteristic.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising causing a script related to the advertisement to be triggered for the advertiser.

14. A computer-implemented system, comprising:

a server interface arranged to receive requests from users of computing devices and to provide responses for use by the user of the computing devices;

an advertisement server arranged to select advertisements in response to user requests, and, for each user selected advertisement, to provide calling information in response to the user selection of the advertisement; and

a telephonic connection server arranged to;

receive the calling information from the advertisement server;

connect telephonically with a telephone of an advertiser associated with the user selected advertisement, the telephone of the advertiser being identified by the calling information;

provide a message that identifies the user selected advertisement to the telephone of the advertiser; and

connect a user telephonically with the telephone of the advertiser.

15. The computer-implemented system of claim 14, wherein the telephonic connection server includes a map that correlates internal intermediate telephone numbers received from the advertising server to public telephone numbers of advertisers for connecting the user with the target.

16. The computer-implemented system of claim 14, wherein the advertisement server is further arranged to manage a pool of intermediate telephone numbers that are arranged to be assigned temporarily to advertisements while the advertisements are active on the advertisement server, and reassigned to other advertisements while the other advertisements are active on the advertisement server.

17. The computer-implemented system of claim 16, wherein the advertisement server is further programmed to reassign the telephone numbers to the other advertisements after a predetermined period of time has elapsed since the telephone numbers were previously active.

18. The computer-implemented system of claim 14, wherein the message identifies an organization that operates the telephonic connection server.

19. The computer-implemented system of claim 14, wherein the message identifies an organization that operates the advertisement server.

20. The computer-implemented system of claim 14, wherein the message identifies the advertiser.

21. The computer-implemented system of claim 14, wherein the advertisement server is further arranged to provide code for an alternative landing page that is not served by the advertising server.