System to capture communication information

• US 8,908,846 B2
• Filed: 06/22/2005
• Issued: 12/09/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 06/22/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Rent Group Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Viva Group Incorporated
• Inventors: Siegel, Ian, Hammond, Eric, Eastwood, Mark C.
• Primary Examiner(s): DEANE JR, WILLIAM J
• Application Number:
  US11/158,916
• Publication Number:
  US 20070003038A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,457 Days
• Field of Search: 379/201.01, 379/201.11, 379/202.01, 379/158, 37914201-14207, 379/209.01, 705/26.1, 705/34
• US Class Current: 379/209.01
• 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

Abstract

Apparatuses and methods to mask identification information to create billing mechanisms in an online listing system are disclosed. In one embodiment, a computer-implemented method of operating an online listing system includes determining an identity of a user based on an identifier entered by the user that uniquely identified the user; and capturing call history information when routing a proxy telephone number from the user (e.g., a renter, a buyer, a prospective buyer, a mortgagor, etc.) to a lister (e.g., a landlord, a seller, a rental manager, a mortgagee, etc.). The identifier may be the proxy telephone number and/or a code entered after dialing the proxy telephone number. The proxy telephone number may be converted to an actual telephone number prior to routing the proxy telephone number to the lister.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method of operating an online listing system, the computer-implemented method including:

determining, by a processor, an identity of a user based on an identifier entered by the user that uniquely identifies the user;

capturing, by the processor, call history information when routing a call to a proxy telephone number by the user to a lister, a first part of the proxy telephone number being the same for the user and one or more additional users of the online listing system;

upon completion of the routed call,

transmitting, to the user, additional information about a listing based on a duration of the routed call, the additional information describing an item or service offered by the lister;

scanning the call history information to determine whether a contract associated with the listing is formed between the user and the lister; and

validating a transaction associated with the listing based on the determination that the contract is formed between the user and the lister.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the identifier forms a second part of the proxy telephone number.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the identifier is a code entered after dialing the proxy telephone number.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 3, wherein the proxy telephone number is unique to a listing associated with the lister, and the code is unique to the user.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 4, wherein the listing is associated with an item detail page in the online listing system, and wherein the user contacts the lister through any one or more of the proxy telephone number, a proxy fax number, and a website lead form on the item detail page.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 5, further including justifying a charge to at least one of the user and the lister based on any one or more of the call history information, the proxy fax number, and the website lead form.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 3, further including converting the proxy telephone number to an actual telephone number prior to routing the call made to the proxy telephone number by the user to the lister.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 3, wherein the call history information includes at least one of the identity of the user, the duration of a routed call, a time-and-day of the routed call, and a listing identifier identifying the listing associated with the lister.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further including routing a fax to the proxy fax number to an actual fax number through the online listing system.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, further including converting an actual email address of the user entered in the website lead form to a proxy email address;

and transmitting the proxy email address to the lister.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further including receiving the call of the user from multiple geographic sites prior to determining the identity of the user based on the identifier entered by the user that uniquely identifies the user.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further including generating the identifier based on a logic algorithm having a checksum;

and billing the lister for each different user routed call to the lister based on the identifier.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further including:

identifying a lister response to the user based on a code entered by the lister dialing a further proxy telephone number; and

capturing a response history information when routing a call to the further proxy telephone number to the user.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 13, wherein the code is an extension entered after dialing the further proxy telephone number.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 13, wherein the response history includes data of how long the lister took to contact the user.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 15, further including recording one or more telephone calls between the user and the lister based on an agreement between the user and the lister with a proprietor of the online listing system.

17. The computer-implemented method of claim 16, further including providing a periodic log of telephone numbers dialed between the user and the lister.

18. A machine-readable storage medium having embodied thereon a set of instructions executable by a machine to perform the method of claim 1.

19. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the additional information is transmitted using additional user data that uniquely identifies the user.

20. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further including:

responsive to determining that a contract is formed between the user and the lister, transmitting a signal to an administrator of the online listing system to follow up with the user and the lister.

21. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the call history information is scanned using an optical character recognition process.

22. A computer-implemented method including:

generating, by a processor, a telephone number to uniquely identify a listing of an online listing system, the telephone number being the same for one or more users;

generating, by the processor, a telephone extension to uniquely identify a user of the one or more users of the online listing system;

associating the telephone extension with the telephone number based on a registration of the user on the online listing system; and

upon completion of the routed call, transmitting, to the user, additional information about a listing based on a duration of a routed call, the additional information describing an item or service offered by the lister.

23. A machine-readable storage medium having embodied thereon a set of instructions executable by a machine to perform the method of claim 22.

24. The computer implemented method of claim 22, wherein the telephone extension that uniquely identifies the user and the telephone number that uniquely identifies the listing is visible on each listing in the online listing system visited by the user.

25. A computer-implemented method of operating an online listing system including:

identifying, by a processor, a lister response to a user based on a identifier entered by a lister that uniquely identifies the user;

capturing, by the processor, response history information when routing a call to a proxy telephone number from the lister to the user;

upon completion of the routed call, transmitting, to the user, additional information about a listing based on the duration of the routed call, the additional information describing an item or service offered by the lister;

scanning a call history information between the user and the lister to determine whether a contract associated with the listing is formed between the user and the lister; and

validating a transaction associated with the listing based on the determination that the contract is formed between the user and the lister.

26. A machine-readable storage medium having embodied thereon a set of instructions executable by a machine to perform the method of claim 25.

27. An apparatus including:

a transaction center server to identify a lister response to a user based on a code entered by the lister dialing a proxy telephone number to place a call to the user and upon completion of the call, to transmit, to the user, additional information about a listing based on the duration of the call, the additional information describing an item or service offered by the lister; and

a billing module to capture a response history information when routing a call to the proxy telephone number to the user and validate a transaction associated with the listing by scanning a call history information to determine if a contract associated with the listing is formed between the user and the lister.

28. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein the code is an extension entered after dialing the proxy telephone number.

29. The apparatus of claim 27 further including a mask module to determine an identity of the user dialing the proxy telephone number based on an extension number entered by the user, and wherein the transaction center server is to capture the call history information when routing the call to the proxy telephone number to the lister.

30. The apparatus of claim 29, wherein the proxy telephone number is unique to the listing requested by the user, and the extension number is unique to the user.

31. The apparatus of claim 30, wherein the billing module is to generate a justification to a bill to at least one of the user and the lister based on any one or more of the call history information, the proxy fax number, and the website lead form.

32. A system including:

means for identifying, by a processor, a lister response to a user based on a identifier entered by a lister that uniquely identifies the user;

means for capturing by the processor, response history information when routing a call made to a proxy telephone number from the lister to the user;

means for transmitting, to the user upon completion of the routed call, additional information about a listing based on the duration of the routed call, the additional information describing an item or service offered by the lister;

means for scanning a call history information to determine whether a contract associated with the listing is formed between the user and the lister; and

means for validating a transaction associated with the listing between the user and the lister based on the determination that the contract related to the listing is formed between the user and the lister.