Method and apparatus for prioritizing a listing of information providers

• US 8,027,898 B2
• Filed: 08/03/2009
• Issued: 09/27/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 06/18/2003
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Thryv, Inc. (Mudrick Capital Management LP)
• Original Assignee: UTBK, Inc.
• Inventors: Van Der Linden, Sean David, Altberg, Henrik Axel Ebbe, Faber, Scott, Hirson, Ron
• Primary Examiner(s): Havan; Thu Thao
• Application Number:
  US12/534,770
• Publication Number:
  US 20100017266A1
• Time in Patent Office: 785 Days
• Field of Search: 705 35- 36 R
• US Class Current: 705/35
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0273 Determination of fees for advertising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0283 Price estimation or determination
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/06 Asset management; Financial planning or analysis

Abstract

A method and apparatus for prioritizing a listing of information providers according to a fee value and availability status indicated for the information providers, and providing a set of one or more information provider identifiers that satisfy a request for a type of information provider that has been received from a user over the Internet. The set of information provider identifiers are ranked according to their associated fee values and availability status. A set of one or more files are generated to display the set of information provider identifiers. The set of files are transmitted to the user, and the user is provided access to an information provider identified by one of the set of information provider identifiers.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method, comprising:

receiving via a computer

a priority bid of a first service provider and

a service price of the first service provider;

prioritizing via the computer a list of service providers to generate a prioritized list of the service providers, based at least on the priority bid of the first service provider;

responsive to a selection of the first service provider, selected by a user from the prioritized list, determining via the computer whether the selection satisfies at least one of the criteria (1) the computer has provided a connection between the first service provider and the user within a predetermined period of time prior to the selection of the first service provider, (2) the user has made more than a predetermined number of selections of a service provider prior to the selection of the first service provider, and (3) the user has made more than a predetermined number of selections of the first service provider prior to the selection of the first service provider, and charging the first service provider according to the priority bid of the first service provider unless the selection satisfies at least one of the criteria; and

responsive to the selection by the user, providing by the computer a connection between the first service provider and the user, and charging the user on behalf of the first service provider based on a duration of the connection and the service price of the first service provider.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein prioritizing is further based on at least one of:

peer rating, independent auditor rating, user rating, relevancy, and experience.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein determining comprises determining whether the user has provided financial account information to the computer.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the financial account information comprises information of a credit card account of the user.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising determining whether the financial account information is received by the computer within a predetermined period of time from the selection of the first service provider.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein providing the connection comprises:

retrieving via the computer contact information of the first service provider;

making a first connection via the computer to the first information provider using the contact information and making a second connection to the user separately from the first connection; and

connecting the first connection and the second connection.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving via the computer a search request from the user;

identifying via the computer the service providers according to the search request; and

providing via the computer the prioritized list of the service providers to the user, as a response to the search request.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the search request comprises a selection of a type of service providers.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing via the computer a user interface to the first service provider, the user interface allowing the first service provider to view and modify the priority bid and the service price.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the connection between the first service provider and the user comprises a telephonic connection.

11. A storage medium storing instructions which, when read and executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform a method, the method comprising:

receiving by the computer

a priority bid of a first service provider and

a service price of the first service provider;

prioritizing by the computer a list of service providers to generate a prioritized list of the service providers, based at least on the priority bid of the first service provider;

responsive to a selection of the first service provider, selected by a user from the prioritized list, determining by the computer whether the selection satisfies at least one of the criteria (1) the computer has provided a connection between the first service provider and the user within a predetermined period of time prior to the selection of the first service provider, (2) the user has made more than a predetermined number of selections of a service provider prior to the selection of the first service provider, and (3) the user has made more than a predetermined number of selections of the first service provider prior to the selection of the first service provider, and charging the first service provider according to the priority bid of the first service provider unless the selection satisfies at least one of the criteria; and

responsive to the selection by the user, providing by the computer a connection between the first service provider and the user, and charging the user on behalf of the first service provider based on a duration of the connection and the service price of the first service provider.

12. The medium of claim 11, wherein the method further comprises:

receiving via the computer a search request from the user;

identifying via the computer the service providers according to the search request; and

providing via the computer the prioritized list of the service providers to the user, as a response to the search request.

13. The medium of claim 11, wherein the method further comprises:

determining whether the user has provided financial account information to the computer.

14. The medium of claim 11, wherein the method further comprises:

retrieving via the computer telephonic contact information of the first service provider;

initiating via the computer a first telephonic connection to the first information provider using the telephonic contact information, the first telephonic connection being separate from a second telephonic connection between the computer and the user; and

connecting the first connection and the second connection.

15. A computer-based system, comprising:

a memory storing a database of service providers;

at least one processor coupled with the memory configured to;

prioritize a subset of the service providers to generate a prioritized list of service providers, based at least on a priority bid of a first service provider, and

responsive to a selection of the first service provider, selected by a user from the prioritized list,

determine whether the selection satisfies at least one of the criteria (1) the computer has provided a connection between the first service provider and the user within a predetermined period of time prior to the selection of the first service provider, (2) the user has made more than a predetermined number of selections of a service provider prior to the selection of the first service provider, and (3) the user has made more than a predetermined number of selections of the first service provider prior to the selection of the first service provider,

charge the first service provider according to the priority bid of the first service provider unless the selection satisfies at least one of the criteria,

provide a telephonic connection between the first service provider and the user, and

charge the user on behalf of the first service provider based on a duration of the connection and a service price of the first service provider.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:

identify the subset according to a search request; and

retrieve telephonic contact information of the first service provider from the database in response to the selection;

wherein the telephonic connection is established using the telephonic contact information retrieved from the database.

17. The system of claim 15, further comprising determining whether

the user has provided financial account information to the computer.