Digital Voice Communication Advertising

• US 20090006193A1
• Filed: 06/29/2007
• Published: 01/01/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 06/29/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Gnuschke, Jerald J., Yee, Dawson, Forbes, Scott C., Moore, Tim M.
• Granted Patent: US 10,657,539 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/14.540
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/102 Bill distribution or payments
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0256 User search
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0269 based on user profile or attribute
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0275 Auctions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0277 Online advertisement
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0283 Price estimation or determination
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange

Abstract

Techniques for providing third party incentivized communications sessions are described. In some embodiments, a Voice over IP (VoIP) conversation is sampled for audio information such as a word, phrase, utterance, or phoneme that may be associated with an advertisement in a database. The database may be searched for the audio information, or in some embodiments a text equivalent of the audio information, and the associated advertisement may be served to a participant in the VoIP communication session. In some implementations, data from or about the conversation may be compiled for analysis.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

sampling an audio conversation for at least one word associated with an advertisement;

searching for the at least one word, associated with the advertisement, in the audio conversation; and

serving at least one advertisement to a participant in the audio conversation.

2. The method as described in claim 1, further comprising pre-selecting a third party source of the advertisement from among one or more bidders in an network environment.

3. The method as described in claim 1, further comprising assessing a third party a fee for serving the advertisement, wherein the fee is dependent on a factor associated with one or more of participant location, time, relevancy factor, another sampled word, participant profile, participant selected advertisement level, non-audio communication triggering the audio conversation, participant advertisement interaction, number of participants, bandwidth or device type.

4. The method as described in claim 1, further comprising determining the at least one advertisement, to be served, based on at least one of participant location, time, relevancy factor, another sampled word, participant profile, selected advertisement level, non-audio communication triggering the audio conversation, or device type.

5. The method as described in claim 1, further comprising presenting a user interface for enabling a participant to manage a participant account including a profile portion.

6. The method as described in claim 1, further comprising providing the participant an incentive selected from one or more of a service, a communication hardware device, a coupon, a reimbursement, or a fungible credit.

7. The method as described in claim 1, wherein the advertisement is served in a non-intrusive medium selected from one or more of video display, real-time video display, instant messaging, email messaging, voice mail messaging, Internet link, subsequent telephone call, subsequent offer to place a communication, or physical messaging.

8. The method as described in claim 1, further comprising compiling non-identifiable audio event data including at least the sampled word.

9. The method as described in claim 8, further comprising presenting a user interface for managing compiled audio event data.

10. The method as described in claim 1, further comprising accepting an unsolicited offer to designate the advertisement for a word included in a database being searched.

11. One or more computer-readable media comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed, direct a computing system to,

in response to receiving an utterance from an audio event, search for at least one advertisement associated with the utterance;

if the search locates at least one advertisement, forward the at least one advertisement to a client, the client having been configured for accepting advertisements; and

assess a third party a fee for forwarding the advertisement.

12. The one or more computer-readable media as described in claim 11, further comprising select the third party based on a bid entered by the third party in an online auction.

13. The one or more computer-readable media as described in claim 11, wherein the assessed fee depends on a factor associated with one or more of client location, time, relevancy factor, another utterance, participant profile, selected advertisement level, non-audio communication triggering the audio event, participant advertisement interaction, number of participants, client bandwidth or client type.

14. The one or more computer-readable media as described in claim 11, further comprising convert the utterance into a computer recognizable representation of the utterance.

15. The one or more computer-readable media as described in claim 11, further comprising compile non-identifiable audio event data.

16. A system comprising:

a client for participating in an audio session that includes at least one utterance;

a database including an utterance record, the utterance record associating at least one pre-selected utterance with at least one advertisement, an advertiser identification and an assessed fee; and

an advertising module for forwarding the advertisement to the client if the at least one utterance matches the pre-selected utterance.

17. The system as described in claim 16, further comprising a directory service module including an identity having participant information, the advertising module passively selecting the advertisement based on the utterance record and the identity.

18. The system as described in claim 16, wherein the advertising module calculates the assessed fee based on at least one of client location, time, relevancy factor, another utterance, participant profile, selected advertisement level, non-audio communication triggering the audio session, participant advertisement interaction, number of participants, client bandwidth or client type.

19. The system as described in claim 16, further comprising a data module for presenting non-identifiable audio session data.

20. The system as described in claim 16, wherein the audio session is a voice over internet protocol (VoIP) telephone call.