Methods and apparatuses for offline selection of pay-per-call advertisers

• US 7,366,683 B2
• Filed: 03/28/2005
• Issued: 04/29/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 10/06/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Thryv, Inc. (Mudrick Capital Management LP)
• Original Assignee: UTBK, Inc.
• Inventors: Barach, Marc, Somorjai, John, Altberg, Ebbe, Faber, Scott, Hickson, Chris, Fordyce, Michael, Hirson, Ron, Van der Linden, Sean
• Primary Examiner(s): Alvarez; Raquel
• Application Number:
  US11/092,309
• Publication Number:
  US 20050216345A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,128 Days
• Field of Search: 705/10, 705/14, 705/26, 705/27, 379/114.03, 379/114.04, 379/114.05
• US Class Current: 705/14.64
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06398 Performance of employee with respect to a job function
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0259 based on store location
• 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 30/0275 Auctions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0277 Online advertisement
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/04 Billing or invoicing
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/2757 by data transmission, e.g. downloading
• 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 15/06 Recording class or number of calling , i.e. A-party or called party , i.e. B-party
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/08 Metering calls to called party , i.e. B-party charged for the communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/745 Customizing according to wishes of subscriber, e.g. friends or family
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/8033 location-dependent, e.g. business or home
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/805 Bidding
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/405 Competitive bidding for work items
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/0108 Customization according to wishes of subscriber, e.g. customer preferences, friends and family, selecting services or billing options, Personal Communication Systems [PCS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/0192 Sponsored, subsidised calls via advertising, e.g. calling cards with ads or connecting to special ads, free calling time by purchasing goods
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/62 Called party billing, e.g. reverse billing, freephone, collect call, 0800 or 0900
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/7435 : Location dependent, e.g. Bussiness or home
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/7457 : Biding
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2242/14 : with services dependent on location where the service is an information service H04M2242/15; services independent of location H04M3/42229
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42008 : Systems for anonymous communication between parties, e.g. by use of disposal contact identifiers
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42059 : Making use of the calling party identifier
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/523 : with call distribution or queueing
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5235 : Dependent on call type or called number [DNIS]

Abstract

Methods and apparatuses to connect telephone calls and track information about the telephone calls resulting from advertisements for groups of advertisers. In one embodiment, a method includes: determining a geographic area after receiving a telephone call to a first telephone number publicized in an advertisement; determining a telephone number of a first advertiser; and connecting the telephone call to the telephone number of the first advertiser, the first advertiser billed for the advertisement based on telephonic connections made to connect the first advertiser and telephone calls to the first telephone number.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

providing a single advertisement to one or more media channels, including a first telephone number, on behalf of a plurality of competing advertisers;

receiving a telephone call to the first telephone number and identifying a geographic area related to an origin of the telephone call;

selecting a first advertiser from the competing advertisers, based at least in part on the identified geographic area, and identifying a separate previously assigned telephone number of the first advertiser;

connecting the received telephone call to the previously assigned telephone number of the first advertiser to track telephone connections to the first advertiser established from received telephone calls to the first telephone number provided in the advertisement; and

charging the first advertiser a predetermined fee for the advertisement in response to connecting the received telephone call, placed to the first telephone number provided in the advertisement, to the previously assigned telephone number of the first advertiser identified based at least in part on the identified geographic area.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a telephone number of the telephone call from an Automatic Number Identification (ANI) service;

wherein the geographic area is identified based at least partially on the telephone number of the telephone call.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a zip code from the telephone call through an interactive voice response (IVR) system;

wherein the geographic area is identified based at least partially on the zip code.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving location information from a cellular communication system for the telephone call;

wherein the geographic area is identified from the location information.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a voice indication of a geographic area;

wherein the geographic area related to the origin of the call is identified from the voice indication.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the first advertiser is selected based at least partially on bid prices of the competing advertisers.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the first telephone number is publicized for the geographic area;

and the geographic area is identified from the first telephone number.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one media channel is an offline media channel.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the offline media channel comprises one of:

newspaper;

radio broadcast; and

television broadcast.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one media channel comprises an online media channel, including one of:

web server;

Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) server; and

Short Message Service (SMS) based server.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of advertisers provide a same type of service.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the first telephone number is toll-free.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

selecting a media channel through which the first telephone number is provided to a user.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

storing information to indicate a connection made for the telephone call to the telephone number of the first advertiser, the information including an indication of the selected media channel.

15. A machine-readable medium having stored thereon a set of instructions which when executed perform a method, comprising:

providing a single advertisement to one or more media channels, including a first telephone number, on behalf of a plurality of competing advertisers;

receiving a telephone call to the first telephone number and identifying a geographic area related to an origin of the telephone call;

selecting a first advertiser from the competing advertisers, based at least in part on the identified geographic area, and identifying a separate previously assigned telephone number of the first advertiser;

connecting the received telephone call to the previously assigned telephone number of the first advertiser to track telephone connections to the first advertiser established from received telephone calls to the first telephone number provided in the advertisement; and

charging the first advertiser a predetermined fee for the advertisement in response to connecting the received telephone call, placed to the first telephone number provided in the advertisement, to the previously assigned telephone number of the first advertiser identified based at least in part on the identified geographic area.

16. The machine-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the method further comprises:

determining a telephone number of the telephone call from an Automatic Number Identification (ANI) service;

wherein the geographic area is identified based at least partially on the telephone number of the telephone call.

17. The machine-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the method further comprises:

receiving a zip code from the telephone call through an interactive voice response (IVR) system;

wherein the geographic area is identified based at least partially on the zip code.

18. The machine-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the method further comprises:

receiving location information from a cellular communication system for the telephone call;

wherein the geographic area is identified from the location information.

19. The machine-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the method farther comprises:

receiving a voice indication of a geographic area;

wherein the geographic area related to the origin of the call is identified from the voice indication.

20. The machine-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the first advertiser is selected based at least partially on bid prices of the competing advertisers.

21. The machine-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the first telephone number is publicized for the geographic area;

and the geographic area is identified from the first telephone number.

22. The machine-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the one or more media channels comprises one of:

newspaper;

radio broadcast; and

television broadcast.

23. The machine-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the one or more media channels comprises one of:

web sewer;

Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) server; and

Short Message Service (SMS) based server.

24. The machine-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the method farther comprises:

storing information to indicate a connection made for the telephone call to the telephone number of the first advertiser.

25. A system, comprising:

means for providing a single advertisement to one or more media channels, including a first telephone number, on behalf of a plurality of competing advertisers;

means for receiving a telephone call to the first telephone number and identifying a geographic area related to an origin of the telephone call;

means for selecting a first advertiser from the competing advertisers, based at least in part on the identified geographic area, and identifying a separate previously assigned telephone number of the first advertiser;

means for connecting the received telephone call to the previously assigned telephone number of the first advertiser to track telephone connections to the first advertiser established from received telephone calls to the first telephone number provided in the advertisement; and

means for charging the first advertiser a predetermined fee for the advertisement in response to connecting the received telephone call, placed to the first telephone number provided in the advertisement, to the previously assigned telephone number of the first advertiser identified based at least in part on the identified geographic area.

26. The system of claim 25, further comprising:

a means for determining a telephone number of the telephone call from an Automatic Number Identification (ANI) service, wherein the geographic area is identified based at least partially on the telephone number of the telephone call.

27. The system of claim 25, further comprising:

a means for receiving a zip code from the telephone call through an interactive voice response (IVR) system, wherein the geographic area is identified based at least partially on the zip code.

28. The system of claim 25, further comprising:

a means for receiving location information from a cellular communication system for the telephone call, wherein the geographic area is identified from the location information.

29. The system of claim 25, further comprising:

a means for receiving a voice indication of a geographic area, wherein the geographic area related to the origin of the call is identified from the voice indication.

30. The system of claim 25, wherein the first advertiser is selected based at least partially on bid prices of the competing advertisers.

31. The system of claim 25, wherein the first telephone number is publicized for the geographic area;

and the geographic area is identified from the first telephone number.

32. The system of claim 25, wherein the one or more media channels comprises one of:

newspaper;

radio broadcast; and

television broadcast.

33. The system of claim 25, wherein the one or more media channels comprises one of:

web server;

Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) server; and

Short Message Service (SMS) based server.

34. The system of claim 25, further comprising:

a means for storing information to indicate a connection made for the telephone call to the telephone number of the first advertiser.