APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR RECRUITING, COMMUNICATING WITH, AND PAYING PARTICIPANTS OF INTERACTIVE ADVERTISING

• US 20130311261A1
• Filed: 04/19/2013
• Published: 11/21/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 03/13/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Thryv, Inc. (Mudrick Capital Management LP)
• Original Assignee: UTBK, LLC
• Inventors: Faber, Scott, Van Der Linden, Sean, McKenna, Patrick, Chen, Peter
• Granted Patent: US 8,843,392 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/14.17
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0215 Including financial accounts
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0217 involving input on products or services in exchange for incentives or rewards
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0256 User search
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0261 based on user location
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0267 Wireless devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0273 Determination of fees for advertising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0277 Online advertisement

Abstract

A method and apparatus for recruiting, communicating with, and paying participants of interactive advertising are described. The present invention is a system through which advertisers car recruit, communicate with, and pay their potential customers for their time. The system achieves these functions without the advertiser or the customer having to be in the same location—all logistics are handled through the system'"'"'s web site, database, and communications interfaces. The system enables advertisers to promote interactive seminars in which they try to sell products to potential customers. Most importantly, the advertisers are able to offer their potential customers financial rewards for their time, such as 25 cents per minute to reward a customer for listening to a sales pitch. The system then provides a real-time communications link between the advertiser and customer. The system automatically bills the advertiser and rewards the customer for the time that they interact.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

a first party providing an advertisement to a customer on behalf of an advertiser to advertise an interactive marketing session, the advertisement to include at least a reference to a telephonic connection with the advertiser for the customer to join the interactive marketing session and to include a price to reward the customer for voice communications with the advertiser in the interactive marketing session;

the first party registering the customer to allow the customer to use the reference to request the telephonic connection with the advertiser to join the interactive marketing session and to earn rewards from the interactive marketing session, the telephonic connection permitting the voice communications between the first party and the advertiser;

the first party connecting the customer to the advertiser for the interactive marketing session over the telephonic connection;

the first party charging a fee according to the price, specified by the advertiser to reward the customer, in response to the telephonic connection for the interactive marketing session being established between the advertiser and the customer via the reference; and

the first party rewarding the customer according to the price for voice communications with the advertiser in the interactive marketing session over the telephonic connection established via the reference.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the advertisement is placed on a media channel.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the media channel is an Internet.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the first party providing the advertisement includes providing a reference to be selected by a customer to initiate a telephone call to the advertiser.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the reference includes a hyper-link to be selected by a customer to initiate a telephone call to the advertiser.

6. The method of claim 1, further including

the first party providing advertisements on a media channel on behalf of multiple advertisers, the advertisements to include at least a reference to a telephonic connection with the respective advertisers;

and

the first party billing the respective advertisers in response to a telephonic connection being established between the respective advertiser and a customer.

7. The method of claim 4, wherein the first party providing the advertisement includes providing a reference to be selected by a customer to initiate a voice-over IP telephone call to the advertiser.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the advertisement is provided in response to a search performed by a consumer.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the advertisement is provided in response to a search performed by a consumer for geographic location.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the advertisement is provided in response to a search performed by a consumer for a subject matter.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein the advertisement is provided in response to a key word search performed by a consumer.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the price is specified by the advertiser.

15. The method of claim 4, wherein the price is based on a duration of the telephonic connection between the advertiser and the customer.

16. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

the first party charging the customer on behalf of the advertiser for a purchase made by the customer, from the advertiser, over the telephonic connection between the advertiser and the customer;

wherein the advertisement further includes an instruction to the customer on how to purchase an item over the telephonic connection.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the fee comprises an advertisement fee.

18. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

rewarding the customer in response to input requested by the advertiser and received from the customer over the telephonic connection between the advertiser and the customer.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein the advertisement indicates whether the interactive marketing session is currently in progress.

12. A system comprising:

means for a first party providing an advertisement to a customer on behalf of an advertiser to advertise an interactive marketing session, the advertisement to include at least a reference to a telephonic connection with the advertiser for the customer to join the interactive marketing session and to include a price to reward the customer for voice communications with the advertiser in the interactive marketing session;

means for the first party registering the customer to allow the customer to use the reference to request the telephonic connection with the advertiser to join the interactive marketing session and to earn rewards from the interactive marketing session, the telephonic connection permitting the voice communications between the first party and the advertiser;

means for the first party connecting the customer to the advertiser for the interactive marketing session over the telephonic connection;

means for the first party charging a fee according to the price, specified by the advertiser to reward the customer, in response to the telephonic connection for the interactive marketing session being established between the advertiser and the customer via the reference; and

means for the first party rewarding the customer according to the price for voice communications with the advertiser in the interactive marketing over the telephonic connection established via the reference.

13. A machine-readable medium having stored thereon a set of instructions, which when executed, causes a data processing system to perform a method comprising:

a first party providing an advertisement to a customer on behalf of an advertiser to advertise an interactive marketing session, the advertisement to include at least a reference to a telephonic connection with the advertiser for the customer to join the interactive marketing session and to include a price to reward the customer for voice communications with the advertiser in the interactive marketing session;

the first party registering the customer to allow the customer to use the reference to request the telephonic connection with the advertiser to join the interactive marketing session and to earn rewards from the interactive marketing session, the telephonic connection permitting the voice communications between the first party and the advertiser;

the first party connecting the customer to the advertiser for the interactive marketing session over the telephonic connection;

the first party charging a fee according to the price, specified by the advertiser to reward the customer, in response to the telephonic connection for the interactive marketing session being established between the advertiser and the customer via the reference; and

the first party rewarding the customer according to the price for voice communications with the advertiser in the interactive marketing over the telephonic connection established via the reference.