Methods and apparatuses to track keywords for establishing communication links

• US 9,208,498 B2
• Filed: 11/14/2006
• Issued: 12/08/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 10/06/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Thryv, Inc. (Mudrick Capital Management LP)
• Original Assignee: YellowPages.com LLC (Mudrick Capital Management LP)
• Inventors: Faber, Scott, Altberg, Ebbe, Hirson, Ron, Van Der Linden, Sean, Yang, Virginia Hong-Jia
• Primary Examiner(s): Alvarez, Raquel
• Application Number:
  US11/559,866
• Publication Number:
  US 20070121848A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,311 Days
• Field of Search: 705/14.1, 705/14.43, 705/14.51, 705/14.52, 705/14.69, 379/133, 379/139
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0242 Determining effectiveness of advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0244 Optimization
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0245 Surveys
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0252 based on events or environment, e.g. weather or festivals
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0254 based on statistics
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0273 Determination of fees for advertising
• 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

Methods and apparatuses to track keywords used for matching advertisements that provide references to make calls for real time communications. One embodiment includes: selecting an advertisement based on a condition; providing a reference for presentation with the advertisement, to identify the condition and the advertisement; and charging an advertisement fee in response to a call via the reference for a real time communication session.

Claims

1. A method to make and track connections for communications with a communication connection system, comprising:

creating, via the communication connection system, an advertisement of an advertiser comprising a plurality of advertisement keywords and storing the advertisement and the plurality of advertisement keywords in a database of the communication connection system;

selecting, via the communication connection system, a first reference to track the advertisement from a plurality of types of references to track advertisements, and storing the first reference in the database in association with the advertisement;

receiving, via one or more servers of the communication connection system, a first search request from a first user comprising a plurality of first search request keywords;

selecting, via the communication connection system, the advertisement from the database responsive to determining that a first condition is satisfied, the first condition comprising a plurality of first condition keywords, such that

a first one of the plurality of first condition keywords corresponds to at least a first one of the plurality of advertisement keywords of the plurality of advertisement keywords that matches at least a first one of the plurality of first search request keywords, and

a second one of the plurality of first condition keywords corresponds to at least a second one of the plurality of advertisement keywords of the plurality of advertisement keywords that does not match any of the plurality of first search request keywords;

providing, via the one or more servers of the communication connection system, the first reference for presentation with the advertisement, the first reference identifying the first condition and the advertisement, and facilitating establishing a real time communication session between the first user and the advertiser based at least in part on a voice over Internet protocol connection;

collecting, via the communication connection system, first statistics relating to calls made using the first reference via a router of the communication connection system, such that the first statistics are associated with the first condition;

determining, via the communication connection system, using the first statistics, a first performance of the advertisement associated with the first condition; and

selecting, via the communication connection system, a second reference from the plurality of types of references to track advertisements as a change from the first reference based on the first performance.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein one of the plurality of advertisement keywords does not match any of the plurality of search keywords and is not included in the condition.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the first reference includes one of an encoded and an encrypted version of the plurality of first condition keywords.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the first reference includes an index to the plurality of first condition keywords in the database.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the first reference further identifies a price bid for an advertisement fee.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the first reference comprises one of a toll free phone number without an extension, a local phone number without an extension, a phone number with an extension, a session initiation protocol uniform resource identifier, or a click-to-call reference.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the real time communication session comprises one or more of communications in text, voice, audio, image, and/or video.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the first performance indicates one or both of a frequency of calls for real time communication sessions generated from the advertisement, and a rate of conversion from presentations of the advertisement to received calls generated from the presentation for real time communication sessions.

9. The method of claim 1, additionally comprising:

in response to a call made via the first reference for a real time communication session, charging the advertiser a fee.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the fee is a predetermined flat advertisement fee.

11. The method of claim 1, additionally comprising:

receiving, via the communication connection system, a second search request from a second user comprising a plurality of second search request keywords;

selecting, via the communication connection system, the advertisement responsive to a second condition, the second condition comprising a plurality of second condition keywords, such that a first one of the plurality of second condition keywords corresponds to at least a third one of the plurality of advertisement keywords of the plurality of advertisement keywords that matches at least a third one of the plurality of second search request keywords, a second one of the plurality of second condition keywords corresponds to at least a fourth one of the plurality of advertisement keywords of the plurality of advertisement keywords that does not match any of the plurality of second search request keywords;

providing, via the communication connection system, a second reference for presentation with the advertisement, the second reference identifying the second condition and the advertisement, and facilitating establishing a real time communication session between the second user and the advertiser based at least in part on a second voice over Internet protocol connection; and

collecting second statistics relating to calls made using the second reference, such that the second statistics are associated with the second condition.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

determining, using the second statistics, a second performance of the advertisement associated with the second condition.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of types of references comprise at least two of the types selected from the list:

local phone number, toll-free number, SIP address, click-to-assign reference and click-to-callback reference.

14. One or more non-transitory, machine-readable media storing instructions which, when executed on one or more servers of a communication connection system, computing device cause the communication connection system to perform a method to make and track connections for communications, the method comprising:

creating an advertisement of an advertiser comprising a plurality of advertisement keywords and storing the advertisement and the plurality of advertisement keywords in a database of the communication connection system;

selecting a first reference to track the advertisement from a plurality of types of references to track advertisements, and storing the first reference in the database in association with the advertisement;

receiving a first search request comprising a plurality of first search request keywords;

selecting the advertisement from the database responsive to determining that a first condition is satisfied, the first condition comprising a plurality of first condition keywords, such that

a first one of the plurality of first condition keywords corresponds to at least a first one of the plurality of advertisement keywords of the plurality of advertisement keywords that matches at least a first one of the plurality of first search request keywords, and

a second one of the plurality of first condition keywords corresponds to at least a second one of the plurality of advertisement keywords of the plurality of advertisement keywords that does not match any of the plurality of first search request keywords;

providing the first reference for presentation with the advertisement, the first reference identifying the first condition and the advertisement, and facilitating establishing a real time communication session between the user and the advertiser based at least in part on a voice over Internet protocol connection;

collecting first statistics relating to calls made using the first reference via a router of the communication connection system, such that the first statistics are associated with the first condition;

determining, using the first statistics, a first performance of the advertisement associated with the first condition; and

selecting a second reference from the plurality of types of references to track advertisements as a change from the first reference based on the first performance.

15. A communication connection system to make and track connections for communications, the communication connection system comprising:

one or more servers coupled to one or more network interfaces to facilitate access to a communication network, and memory coupled to the one or more servers and storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more servers, cause the communication connection system to;

creating an advertisement of an advertiser comprising a plurality of advertisement keywords and storing the advertisement and the plurality of advertisement keywords in a database of the communication connection system;

selecting a first reference to track the advertisement from a plurality of types of references to track advertisements, and storing the first reference in the database in association with the advertisement;

receive a first search request comprising a plurality of first search request keywords;

select the advertisement from the database responsive to determining that a first condition is satisfied, the first condition comprising a plurality of first condition keywords, such that

a first one of the plurality of first condition keywords corresponds to at least a first one of the plurality of advertisement keywords of the plurality of advertisement keywords that matches at least a first one of the plurality of first search request keywords, and

a second one of the plurality of first condition keywords corresponds to at least a second one of the plurality of advertisement keywords of the plurality of advertisement keywords that does not match any of the plurality of first search request keywords;

provide the first reference for presentation with the advertisement, the first reference identifying the first condition and the advertisement, and facilitating establishing a real time communication session between the user and the advertiser based at least in part on a voice over Internet protocol connection; and

collect first statistics relating to calls made using the first reference via a router of the communication connection system, such that the first statistics are associated with the first condition determine, using the first statistics, a first performance of the advertisement associated with the first condition; and

select a second reference from the plurality of types of references to track advertisements as a change from the first reference based on the first performance.