Method and apparatus for content presentation in association with a telephone call

• US 9,432,824 B2
• Filed: 05/29/2015
• Issued: 08/30/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 04/06/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Vusura Technology LLC
• Original Assignee: Wendell D. Brown
• Inventors: Brown, Wendell D.
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Duc
• Assistant Examiner(s): Mohammed, Assad
• Application Number:
  US14/726,324
• Publication Number:
  US 20150264174A1
• Time in Patent Office: 459 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0241 Advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/00 Substation equipment, e.g. for use by subscribers subscriber services or facilities provided at exchanges H04M3/00; prepayment telephone coin boxes H04M17/00; current supply arrangements H04M19/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72439 for image or video messaging
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72457 according to geographic location
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72469 for operating the device by selecting functions from two or more displayed items, e.g. menus or icons
• 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 15/61 based on the service used
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/8083 involving reduced rates or discounts, e.g. time-of-day reductions or volume discounts
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/83 Notification aspects
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/8351 before establishing a communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/8353 during the communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/8355 after the end of the communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/846 optical, e.g. icon
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/848 Tone, e.g. beeper
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/85 characterised by the type of condition triggering a notification
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/6054 Biometric subscriber identification
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/7231 by SIM, e.g. smart card account in SCP, SDP or SN
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2242/30 Determination of the location of a subscriber
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42051 where the notification is included in the ringing tone
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42059 Making use of the calling party identifier
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/4365 : based on information specified by the calling party, e.g. priority or subject
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/4878 : Advertisement messages
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/0036 : where the data service is an information service
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/0051 : where the data service is a multimedia messaging service
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/12 : Messaging; Mailboxes; Announcements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/16 : Communication-related supplementary services, e.g. call-transfer or call-hold
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/18 : Information format or content conversion, e.g. adaptation by the network of the transmitted or received information for the purpose of wireless delivery to users or terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/20 : Services signaling; Auxiliary data signalling, i.e. transmitting data via a non-traffic channel
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/21 : for social networking applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/23 : for mobile advertising

Abstract

A method and apparatus are provided for presenting multimedia content to caller and/or a called party in association with a telephone call. Content may be presented pre-ring (before the called party'"'"'s telephone rings), in-call and/or post-call. Content presented to a party may be related to another party participating in the call or may be related to a third party (e.g., an advertiser that paid for the ability to have its content presented). Presented content may be actuable, and allow a caller to change the destination of a call, take advantage of an offer presented to him, redeem a coupon, schedule or queue a subsequent call, etc. To find a desired destination party, a caller may initiate a manual or automatic search of his local contacts (on his telephone) and/or a central or global directory or contact list. Calls to or from certain parties or numbers may be screened or filtered.

Claims

1. A method of screening a call, the method comprising:

upon initiation of a call from an originating party operating a calling device to a destination party operating a communication device, wherein signaling of the call to a communication service provider of the calling device is delayed by a call processor operating on the calling device;

during said delay, receiving electronic notification of the call at a call server within a path of data communication between the calling device and the destination device;

determining whether the call to the destination party is permitted; and

when the call is permitted;

querying the destination party for pre-call content to be presented to the originating party; and

forwarding the pre-call content for presentation to the originating party via the calling device.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

establishing the call from the calling device to the communication device operated by the destination party.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

after the call is established, forwarding to one or more of the originating party and the destination party in-call content associated with the other of originating party and the destination party.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising, when the call is permitted:

receiving from the originating party content to be presented to the destination party; and

forwarding the content for presentation to the destination party via the communication device operated by the destination party.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said determining whether the call is permitted comprises determining whether the destination party is included in a list of permitted destinations.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein said determining whether the call is permitted comprises determining whether the destination party is included in a list of prohibited destinations.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

when the originating party is not permitted to call the destination party, canceling the call before the call rings at the communication device operated by the destination party.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein said determining whether the originating party is permitted to call the destination party comprises determining whether the originating party is included in a block list associated with the destination party.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein said determining whether the originating party is permitted to call the destination party comprises determining whether the originating party is included in a global block list.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

establishing the call between the calling device and the communication device operated by the destination party;

during the call, receiving from the destination party activation of a control offered on the communication device; and

in response to activation of the control, adding the originating party to a block list.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

establishing the call between the calling device and the communication device operated by the destination party;

during the call, receiving from the destination party activation of a control offered on the communication device; and

in response to activation of the control, adding the originating party to a contact list associated with the destination party.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising, in response to activation of the control:

interrogating the calling device for contact information associated with the originating party.

13. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform a method of screening a call, the method comprising:

upon initiation of a call from an originating party operating a calling device to a destination party operating a communication device, wherein signaling of the call to a communication service provider of the calling device is delayed by a call processor operating on the calling device;

during said delay, receiving electronic notification of the call at a call server within a path of data communication between the calling device and the destination device;

determining whether the call to the destination party is permitted; and

when the call is permitted;

querying the destination party for pre-call content to be presented to the originating party; and

forwarding the pre-call content for presentation to the originating party via the calling device.

26. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein determining whether the call is permitted comprises determining whether the destination party is included in a list of permitted destination.

27. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein said determining whether the call is permitted comprises determining whether the destination party is included in a list of prohibited destinations.

14. A system for screening a call, comprising:

one or more processors; and

memory storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the system to;

upon initiation of a call from an originating party operating a calling device to a destination party operating a communication device, wherein signaling of the call to a communication service provider of the calling device is delayed by a call processor operating on the calling device;

during said delay, receiving electronic notification of the call at a call server within a path of data communication between the calling device and the destination device;

determine whether the call to the destination party is permitted; and

when the call is permitted;

query the destination party for pre-call content to be presented to the originating party; and

forward the pre-call content for presentation to the originating party via the calling device.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the memory further stores instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the system to:

establish the call from the calling device to the communication device operated by the destination party.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the memory further stores instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the system to:

after the call is established, forward to one or more of the originating party and the destination party in-call content associated with the other of originating party and the destination party.

17. The system of claim 14, wherein the memory further stores instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the system to, when the call is permitted:

receive from the originating party content to be presented to the destination party; and

forward the content for presentation to the destination party via the communication device operated by the destination party.

18. The system of claim 14, wherein said determining whether the call is permitted comprises determining whether the destination party is included in a list of permitted destinations.

19. The system of claim 14, wherein said determining whether the call is permitted comprises determining whether the destination party is included in a list of prohibited destinations.

20. The system of claim 14, wherein the memory further stores instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the system to:

when the originating party is not permitted to call the destination party, cancel the call before the call rings at the communication device operated by the destination party.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein said determining whether the originating party is permitted to call the destination party comprises determining whether the originating party is included in a block list associated with the destination party.

22. The system of claim 20, wherein said determining whether the originating party is permitted to call the destination party comprises determining whether the originating party is included in a global block list.

23. The system of claim 14, wherein the memory further stores instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the system to:

establish the call between the calling device and the communication device operated by the destination party;

during the call, receive from the destination party activation of a control offered on the communication device; and

in response to activation of the control, add the originating party to a block list.

24. The system of claim 14, wherein the memory further stores instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the system to:

establish the call between the calling device and the communication device operated by the destination party;

during the call, receive from the destination party activation of a control offered on the communication device; and

in response to activation of the control, add the originating party to a contact list associated with the destination party.

25. The system of claim 24, wherein the memory further stores instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the system to, in response to activation of the control:

interrogate the calling device for contact information associated with the originating party.