Methods and apparatuses for delivery of advice to mobile/wireless devices

• US 20060184378A1
• Filed: 05/05/2005
• Published: 08/17/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 02/16/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Thryv, Inc. (Mudrick Capital Management LP)
• Original Assignee: Yp Interactive LLC
• Inventors: Altberg, Ebbe, Faber, Scott, Van der Linden, Sean, Agarwal, Anuj, Halstead, Mark Arthur Buchler, Ahuja, Nitin
• Granted Patent: US 8,538,768 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/1.100
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5233 Operator skill based call distribution

Abstract

Methods and apparatuses to connect consumers to diverse advice sources of experts. In one embodiment, a method includes: providing a list of experts to a mobile device via a wireless media channel for presentation to a consumer; responsive to receiving from the mobile device a selection of one expert from the list of experts, initiating a telephonic connection between the expert and the consumer prior to the consumer submitting a question for advice. In one example, the list includes information to indicate whether one or more of the experts are individually available to telephonically communicate with the consumer at a time when the list is provided to the consumer. In one example, initiating the telephonic connection includes: initiating a first call to the consumer; initiating a second call to the expert; and joining the first and second calls to make the telephonic connection between the expert and the consumer.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

providing a list of experts to a mobile device via a wireless media channel for presentation to a consumer, the list comprising information to indicate whether one or more of the experts are individually available to telephonically communicate with the consumer at a time when the list is provided to the consumer; and

responsive to receiving from the mobile device a selection of one expert from the list of experts, initiating a telephonic connection between the expert and the consumer prior to the consumer submitting a question for advice.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said initiating comprises:

initiating a first telephone call to the consumer;

initiating a second telephone call to the expert; and

joining the first and second telephone calls to make the telephonic connection between the expert and the consumer.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the mobile device is capable of receiving a telephone call;

and the first telephone call is routed to the mobile device.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the mobile device comprises a cellular phone.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein said providing further comprises:

performing text-to-speech on the list.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein the media channel comprises one of a group consisting of:

a web-based channel;

a Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) channel;

a custom client-server channel over a wireless communication link; and

a Short Message Service (SMS) based channel.

7. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

determining a location of a mobile device;

wherein the list is provided to the mobile device, via the wireless media channel, according to the location of the mobile device.

8. The method of claim 7, further including determining the location of the mobile device by one of a group consisting of:

an Automatic Number Identification (ANI) based location determination system;

a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver coupled to the mobile device; and

a cellular communication system.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein said providing comprises transmitting wirelessly the list in response to a search submitted from the mobile device.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein a request for the search is received as a voice input at the mobile device;

the method further comprises;

generating text for the search from the voice input using a speech recognition technique.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein said providing comprises transmitting wirelessly the list to the mobile device in response to determining a location of the mobile device.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein said providing is in response to the mobile device entering into a predefined district;

the list is based at least partially on the location of the mobile device; and

the list is provided without a specific user request from the mobile device.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

prompting the consumer to provide a quality score for the expert.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the list comprising information to individually indicate whether each of the experts is available to telephonically communicate with the consumer at a time when the list is provided to the consumer.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the list comprises information from one of a group consisting:

an avatar representation for each of the experts;

certification information for each of the experts;

a compensation rate for each of the experts; and

a quality score provided by previous users.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the list is provided in response to one of:

a category selection; and

a keyword search to match expert characteristics.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the telephonic connection comprises at least one from the group consisting:

an internet telephony connection;

Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP); and

a video connection.

18. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

monitoring how long the telephonic connection is maintained between the selected person and the user;

wherein the consumer is charged based upon how long the telephonic connection is maintained.

19. A machine readable medium containing instructions which when executed perform a method, comprising:

providing a list of experts to a mobile device via a media channel for presentation to a consumer; and

responsive to receiving from the mobile device a selection of one expert from the list of experts;

initiating a first telephone call to the consumer;

initiating a second telephone call to the expert; and

joining the first and second telephone calls to make the telephonic connection between the expert and the consumer.

20. A system, comprising:

means for providing a list of experts to a device via a media channel for presentation to a consumer; and

means for, responsive to receiving from the mobile device a selection of one expert from the list of experts and prior to the consumer submitting a question for advice, initiating a telephonic connection between the expert and the consumer;

wherein said means for initiating the telephonic connection comprises;

means for initiating a first telephone call to the consumer;

means for initiating a second telephone call to the expert; and

means for joining the first and second telephone calls to make the telephonic connection between the expert and the consumer.