Toll-free directory assistance with automatic selection of an advertisement from a category

• US 8,175,231 B2
• Filed: 03/23/2007
• Issued: 05/08/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 05/31/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Jingle Networks Incorporated (Marchex Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Jingle Networks Incorporated (Marchex Incorporated)
• Inventors: Wolmuth, Scott
• Primary Examiner(s): NGUYEN, QUYNH H
• Application Number:
  US11/728,189
• Publication Number:
  US 20070274476A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,873 Days
• Field of Search: 379/88.22, 379/93.12, 379/114.05, 379/114.1, 379/114.11, 379/114.12, 379/114.13
• US Class Current: 379/88.22
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0251 Targeted advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/4878 Advertisement messages
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/4931 Directory assistance systems

Abstract

The current invention is a system for providing telephone directory assistance service in which a telephone user calls to the system and the system will, based on the requested number or type of service, hear a recorded advertisement. The advertisements are selected from a databank, which may include any number advertisements categorized within the category associated with the service, according to selection criteria. After the advertising announcement is completed, the directory assistance call is processed as usual. The selection criteria can include the use of SIC codes.

Claims

1. A method for providing directory assistance information in a public telecommunication network accessed by a directory assistance number, the method comprising:

at a call processing station;

setting up a call between the call processing station and a customer station who dialed the directory assistance number to access the call processing station;

receiving a request for directory assistance information from the customer station relating to a telephone number for a specific provider of goods or services;

examining the request for directory assistance information to select a telephone number of the specific provider of goods or services to provide to the customer station;

automatically selecting an advertisement categorized within a category associated with the specific provider of goods or services based on the selected telephone number; and

forwarding the selected advertisement from a database to the customer station.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

asking a user to be connected to an advertised provider associated with said automatically selected advertisement; and

connecting to said advertised provider if said user agrees to be connected to the advertised provider.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the directory assistance information is provided toll free.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the directory assistance information is associated with a toll free telephone number.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the advertisement is selected for competing goods and services.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein a selection criteria for the advertisement is based on the user'"'"'s geographical location.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein a selection criteria for the advertisement is based on a user'"'"'s telephone number.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the advertisements are stored in a memory.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the advertisement is selected based on a Standard Industry Code associated with the specific provider of goods or services.

10. A computer having a stored computer program and processor to execute computer program instructions that cause the computer to:

set up a call between a call processing station and a customer station who dialed a directory assistance number to access the call processing station;

receive, over a public telecommunication network, a directory assistance request for information from the customer station relating to a telephone number for a specific provider of goods or services;

examine the request for information to select a telephone number of the specific provider of goods or services to provide to the customer station;

select an advertisement categorized within a category associated with the specific provider of goods or services, automatically, based on the selected telephone number; and

forward the selected advertisement to the customer station.

11. The computer of claim 10, wherein the advertisement is selected for competing goods and services.

12. The computer of claim 10, further containing instructions that, when executed, cause the computer to:

select an advertisement based on at least one of geographic location for the customer station and a telephone number for the customer station.

13. The computer of claim 10, further containing instructions that, when executed, cause the computer to:

provide access to a service associated with the selected advertisement.

14. The computer of claim 10, further containing instructions that, when executed, cause the computer to:

connect the customer station to a telephone number associated with the selected advertisement.

15. The computer of claim 14, wherein the connect is performed only after an optional prompt of a user of the customer station.

16. The computer of claim 14, wherein the connect is provided without cost to a user of the customer station.

17. The computer of claim 10, wherein the advertisement is selected based on a Standard Industry Code associated with the specific provider of goods or services.

18. A system for providing access to directory assistance information in a public telecommunication network accessed by a directory assistance number, the system comprising:

a customer station including call connection circuitry; and

a call processing station that operates to set up a call between the call processing station and the customer station who dialed the directory assistance number to access the call processing station, to receive a request for directory assistance information from the customer station relating to a telephone number for a specific provider of goods or services, to examine the request for directory assistance information to select a telephone number of the specific provider of goods or services to provide to the customer station, to automatically select an advertisement categorized within a category associated with the specific provider of goods or services based on the selected telephone number, and to selectively forward the selected advertisement to the customer station.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the advertisement is selected for competing goods and services.

20. The system of claim 18, the customer station further comprising:

an input device to obtain the directory assistance number used for accessing the call processing station;

a transmitter that operates to transmit the request for directory assistance information; and

a first receiver that operates to receive the selected advertisement.

21. The system of claim 20, the call processing station further comprising:

a second receiver that operates to receive the request for directory assistance information from the customer station; and

a processor that operates to retrieve the selected advertisement from a stored media.

22. The system of claim 18, further comprising:

a database apparatus that operates to process a query to determine the selected advertisement, the query having at least one query parameter derived from the request for directory assistance information.

23. The system of claim 18, the customer station further comprising:

an audio output device that operates to play the advertisement in an audible form.

24. The system of claim 18, the customer station further comprising:

a visual output device that operates to display the advertisement.

25. The system of claim 18, wherein the call processing station further selects the advertisement based on a telephone number requested by a user.

26. The system of claim 18, wherein the call processing station further provides access to a service associated with the selected advertisement.

27. The system of claim 26, wherein the customer station is selectively connected to a telephone number associated with the selected advertisement.

28. The system of claim 26, wherein the customer station is connected to the service provider associated with the selected advertisement only after prompting a user.

29. The system of claim 18, wherein the call processing station further determines the selected advertisement by using the associated category identified from the request for directory assistance information as at least one database query parameter.

30. The system of claim 29, wherein the call processing station further operates to query a database to return an optional intercept parameter associated with the selected advertisement, and the optional intercept parameter is used by the call processing station to determine whether a user of the customer station is to be prompted to request access to a service associated with the selected advertisement.

31. The system of claim 18, the call processing station further operates to determine the selected advertisement by using the associated category determined from the request for directory assistance information and a location associated with the customer station as database query parameters.

32. The system of claim 18, wherein the customer station is selectively connected to a telephone number for the specific provider associated with the request for information.

33. The system of claim 32, wherein the connection is provided at reduced cost as compared to a standard cost for a request for directory assistance information associated with a telecommunication service provider.

34. The system of claim 32, wherein the connection is provided without cost to a user of the customer station.

35. An apparatus for providing directory assistance information in a public telecommunication network accessed by a directory assistance number comprising:

an advertisement database to store a plurality of advertisements categorized within a plurality of categories;

a selector to automatically select an advertisement, categorized within a category associated with a specific provider of goods or services, from the plurality of advertisements in the advertisement database based on a telephone number of the specific provider of goods or services, the telephone number determined by examining a directory assistance request received over the public telecommunication network for a customer station who dialed the directory assistance number; and

an output device to forward the selected advertisement to an external device.

36. The apparatus of claim 35, wherein the selector is configured to target the advertisement to competing goods and the services.

37. The apparatus of claim 35, wherein the output device is further configured to format the selected advertisement to be played or displayed on the external device, wherein the external device is one of a telephone, a cellular telephone, an Internet telephone and a handheld computer device.

38. The apparatus of claim 35, wherein the selector is configured to select the advertisement based on a Standard Industry Code associated with the specific provider of goods or services.

39. A method for providing directory assistance information in a public telecommunication network accessed by a toll-free number, the method comprising:

at a call processing station;

setting up a call between the call processing station and a customer station who dialed the toll-free number to access the call processing station;

receiving a request for information from the customer station relating to a telephone number for a specific provider of goods or services;

examining the request for information to select a telephone number of the specific provider of goods or services;

automatically selecting an advertisement categorized within a category associated with the specific provider of goods or services based on the selected telephone number; and

forwarding the selected advertisement from a stored media to the customer station.

40. The method of claim 39, further comprising:

querying a database to determine the selected advertisement, the querying using at least one query parameter from the examining the request for information.

41. The method of claim 40, wherein the query parameter is a geographic location component of the specific provider of goods or services in the request for information.

42. The method of claim 40, wherein the query parameter is a name of a business that is the specific provider of goods or services.

43. The method of claim 40, wherein the query parameter is a general type of business associated with the specific provider of goods or services specified in the request for information.

44. The method of claim 40, wherein the query parameter is a description of a product or service.

45. The method of claim 40, wherein the query parameter is a code associated with the specific provider of goods or services related to the request for information.

46. The method of claim 40, wherein the code is a Standard Industry Classification (SIC) code of the specific provider of the goods or services related to the request for information.

47. The method of claim 40, wherein the query parameter is the telephone number associated with the specific provider associated with the request for information.

48. The method of claim 47, wherein the query parameter is a SIC code associated with the telephone number associated with the specific provider.

49. The method of claim 39, further comprising:

causing the advertisement to be played to the customer station in an audible form.

50. The method of claim 39, further comprising:

causing the advertisement to be played to the customer station in a visual form.

51. The method of claim 39, wherein the automatically selecting the advertisement further comprises:

automatically selecting the advertisement based on an additional criteria including at least one of geographic location for the customer station or a telephone number for the customer station.

52. The method of claim 39, further comprising:

providing access to a service associated with the selected advertisement.

53. The method of claim 52, further comprising:

connecting the customer station to a telephone number associated with the selected advertisement.

54. The method of claim 53 wherein the connecting is performed only after optionally prompting the user of the customer station.

55. The method of claim 54, wherein the connecting to a telephone number associated with the selected advertisement is provided at reduced cost as compared to a standard cost for a request for directory information associated with a telecommunication service provider.

56. The method of claim 54, wherein the connecting to a telephone number associated with the selected advertisement is provided without cost to the user of the customer station.

57. The method of claim 39, further comprising:

querying a database to determine the selected advertisement, the querying using the associated category identified from the request as at least one database query parameter.

58. The method of claim 57, wherein the database query furthermore returns an optional intercept parameter associated with the selected advertisement, wherein the optional intercept parameter is used to determine whether the user of the customer station is to be prompted to request access to a service associated with the advertisement.

59. The method of claim 39, further comprising:

querying a database to determine the selected advertisement, the querying using the associated category determined from the request and a location associated with the customer station as database query parameters.

60. The method of claim 39, further comprising:

connecting the customer station to a telephone number for the specific provider associated with the request for information.

61. The method as in claim 39 wherein the request for information relating to a telephone number for a specific provider of goods or services does not inherently determine the category.

62. A call processing station for providing access to directory assistance information for a public network via a toll-free number, the call processing station comprising:

a receiver to receive a request for directory assistance information from a customer station relating to a telephone number for a specific provider of goods or services;

a processor to examine the request for directory assistance information to select a telephone number of the specific provider of goods or services and automatically select an advertisement categorized within a category associated with the specific provider of goods or services based on the selected telephone number; and

a transmitter to selectively forward the selected advertisement to the customer station.

63. The call processing station of claim 62, wherein the processor is further configured to query a database to determine the selected advertisement, the querying using at least one query parameter from the examining the request for information.

64. The call processing station of claim 62, wherein the processor operates to retrieve the selected advertisement from a stored media.

65. The call processing station of claim 62, further comprising:

a database apparatus that operates to process a query to determine the selected advertisement, the query having at least one query parameter derived from the request for directory assistance information.

66. The call processing station of claim 62, further comprising:

an audio output device that operates to cause the advertisement to be played to the customer station in an audible form.

67. The call processing station of claim 62, further comprising:

a visual output device that operates to cause the advertisement to be displayed to the customer station.

68. The call processing station of claim 62, wherein the processor further automatically selects the advertisement based on a telephone number requested by the user.

69. The call processing station of claim 62, wherein the call processing station further provides access to a service associated with the selected advertisement.

70. The call processing station of claim 69, wherein the call processing station selectively connects the customer station to a telephone number associated with the selected advertisement.

71. The call processing station of claim 70, wherein the call processing station selectively connects the customer station to the service provider associated with the selected advertisement only after prompting the user.

72. The call processing station of claim 62, wherein the database further determines the selected advertisement by using the associated category identified from the request for directory assistance information as at least one database query parameter.

73. The call processing station of claim 72, wherein the database query returns an optional intercept parameter associated with the selected advertisement, and the optional intercept parameter is used to determine whether the user of the customer station is to be prompted to request access to a service associated with the selected advertisement.

74. The call processing station of claim 62, wherein the database further determines the selected advertisement by using the associated category determined from the request for directory assistance information and a location associated with the customer station as database query parameters.

75. The call processing station of claim 62, wherein the call processing station selectively connects the customer station to a telephone number for the specific provider associated with the request for information.