TRUSTED THIRD PARTY CLEARING HOUSE FOR LEAD TRACKING

• US 20080281756A1
• Filed: 05/07/2007
• Published: 11/13/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 05/07/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: R2 Solutions LLC (Acacia Research Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Yahoo! Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Patel, Devesh, Riise, Soren, Burgess, David Anthony
• Granted Patent: US 8,423,479 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/50
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0428 wherein the data content is protected, e.g. by encrypting or encapsulating the payload

Abstract

A method for tracking sales leads, including a lead clearing house logging receipt in a log of one or more encrypted leads received from a participant of the lead clearing house, the one or more leads including personal lead information having been encrypted with a one-way hash algorithm; comparing the received one or more encrypted leads with stored encrypted leads to find any matches; updating the log related to the one or more encrypted leads with unencrypted log information associated with the matching one or more encrypted leads; and communicating a status to the participant based on the log relating to the one or more leads.

Claims

1. A method for tracking sales leads within a lead sales system, comprising:

pre-processing lead information for a lead obtained by a participant of the system;

encrypting personal information of the pre-processed lead with a one-way hash algorithm as a transmittable message;

sending the message containing the encrypted lead and associated unencrypted log information to a lead clearing house; and

selling the lead to a lead consumer.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising the lead clearing house:

logging receipt of the encrypted lead and any associated log information in a log related in memory to the lead.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the participant is a lead consumer seller and the lead consumer comprises at least one of a lead exchange and a subsequent lead consumer.

4. The method of claim 2, further comprising the lead consumer:

encrypting the personal lead information received from the participant upon purchase with the one-way hash algorithm as a transmittable message; and

sending the message containing the encrypted lead and associated updated log information to the lead clearing house.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein encrypting the lead information comprises:

grouping at least two items of personal lead information together;

encrypting the group of personal lead information and any remaining individual items of personal information; and

assembling the encrypted group of personal lead information together with any remaining individually encrypted items of personal lead information into the message.

6. The method of claim 4, further comprising the lead clearing house:

logging receipt of the encrypted lead from the consumer and any updated log information associated with the encrypted lead in the log; and

providing a status to the consumer based on the log relating to the lead.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the log comprises at least one of:

a number of times the encrypted lead is received by the lead clearing house;

a date and time the encrypted lead is at least one of first captured and first sold;

a number of times the lead has been re-sold; and

where a consumer in possession of the lead is in the process of working the lead.

8. The method of claim 6, further comprising the lead clearing house:

authenticating at least one of the participant and the consumer when receiving the encrypted lead from the at least one of the participant and the consumer.

9. A method for tracking sales leads within a lead sales system, comprising:

a lead clearing house logging receipt in a log of one or more encrypted leads received from a participant of the lead clearing house, the one or more leads including personal lead information having been encrypted with a one-way hash algorithm;

comparing the received one or more encrypted leads with stored encrypted leads to find any matches;

updating the log related to the one or more encrypted leads with unencrypted log information associated with the matching one or more encrypted leads; and

communicating a status to the participant based on the log relating to the one or more leads.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the participant of the lead clearing house comprises at least one of a publisher, a lead exchange, and a lead consumer.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the status comprises an identity of one of the publisher or another seller of the one or more leads.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the status comprises a period of time that a consumer that sells the one or more leads sets for at least one subsequent consumer to at least one of sell the lead before it expires and enjoy an exclusive right to sell the lead.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the status comprises at least one of an identifier for a type of the one or more leads and a number of days the lead type dictates that a consumer has to re-sell the lead if desired.

14. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

authenticating the connection between the participant and the lead clearing house when receiving the one or more encrypted leads, wherein the unencrypted log information comprises a participant identification as a result of the authentication; and

removing duplicate encrypted leads before updating the logs of received duplicate leads.

15. The method of claim 9, wherein the one or more encrypted leads comprise individual items of personal lead information encrypted separately with the one-way hash algorithm.

16. The method of claim 9, wherein the status comprises at least one of:

a number of times the one or more encrypted leads are received by the lead clearing house;

a date and time the encrypted lead is at least one of first captured and first sold; and

a number of times the one or more leads have been re-sold.

17. The method of claim 9, wherein the status comprises at least one of a result of working the one or more leads and a report that an item of lead information of the one or more leads is invalid.

18. The method of claim 9, wherein the unencrypted log information of each lead comprises at least one of:

a date and time stamp when the lead was captured;

a date and time stamp when the lead was sold or purchased; and

a lead type.

19. A lead clearing house server for tracking sales leads, comprising:

a network interface, to receive over a network, messages comprising personal lead information encrypted with a one-way hash algorithm, each message comprising at least one encrypted lead and unencrypted log information;

a memory to store received encrypted leads together with a log in relation to each encrypted lead;

a processor in communication with the memory and the network interface comprising;

a comparison module to compare received encrypted leads with stored encrypted leads; and

a logging module to log receipt of the encrypted leads along with the associated log information, and if a received encrypted lead has a stored match, to update the log that is in relation to the matching stored encrypted lead; and

a communication module in communication with the processor and the network interface to send to a participant of the lead clearing house that sent the at least one encrypted lead a status based on the log in memory related to the at least one encrypted lead.

20. The lead clearing house server of claim 19, wherein the processor authenticates the connection between the participant and the lead clearing house when receiving the at least one encrypted lead, wherein the unencrypted log information comprises a participant identification as a result of the authentication.

21. The lead clearing house server of claim 19, wherein the at least one encrypted lead comprises a grouping of at least two items of personal lead information combined together before being encrypted by the one-way hash algorithm.

22. The lead clearing house server of claim 19, wherein the status comprises at least one of:

a number of times the encrypted lead is received by the lead clearing house;

a date and time the encrypted lead is at least one of first captured and first sold; and

the number of times a lead has been re-sold.

23. The lead clearing house server of claim 22, wherein the status comprises at least one of validation that:

the lead is not a duplicate;

the lead with a history of being sold at least once has not been converted; and

the lead is being sold in a location of an address of the lead.

24. The lead clearing house server of claim 19, wherein the status comprises at least one of whether a consumer in possession of a lead has contacted the person represented by a lead and the point at which the consumer is in working the lead.

26. The lead clearing house server of claim 19, wherein the communication module communicates with a lead exchange to receive therefrom encrypted lead information messages having at least one encrypted lead and to send to the lead exchange statuses based on a log corresponding to the at least one encrypted lead.

25. (canceled)