Methods, systems and computer program products for a remote business contact identifier

• US 8,774,835 B2
• Filed: 06/30/2009
• Issued: 07/08/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 06/30/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Cherifi, Tanya D
• Primary Examiner(s): Bost, Dwayne
• Assistant Examiner(s): KOHLMAN, CHRISTOPHER J
• Application Number:
  US12/494,964
• Publication Number:
  US 20100331015A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,834 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 455/456.3
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24575 using context
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9537 Spatial or temporal dependent retrieval, e.g. spatiotemporal queries

Abstract

This disclosure details the implementation of methods, systems and computer program products for remote business contact identification (hereinafter, “RBCI”). RBCI systems implement a remote business identification application whereby users may submit rich media including indicative information of at least one target business entity to a RBCI service provider, and the service provider may identify the target business entity within its database and return the contact information of the target business entity to the user instantly.

Claims

1. A processor-implemented method, comprising:

receiving rich media related to at least one business entity from a user mobile device;

determining user location information based on the received data from the user mobile device;

determining a data format of the received rich media;

identifying a plurality of candidate recognition procedures associated with the data format;

selecting an identified recognition procedure from the plurality of candidate recognition procedures based on the data format;

extracting a business identifier string of the at least one business entity from the received rich media in accordance with the selected recognition procedure;

forming via a processor a contact information search query based on the extracted business identifier string of the at least one business entity and the determined user location in a business database;

retrieving contact information related to the at least one business entity from the business database based on the search query;

storing in a user profile information about the search query, including the at least one business entity, geographic, temporal and demographic criteria;

analyzing a plurality of user profiles of users to extract statistical information about business entities associated with the users;

storing the extracted statistical information about the business entities in Ad profiles associated with the business entities; and

providing the retrieved contact information related to the at least one business entity to the user mobile device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the user mobile device comprises a cellular phone mobile device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the receiving rich media related to at least one business entity from the user mobile device further comprises:

establishing a communicative connection between a user and a service provider; and

receiving the rich media related to the at least one business entity in at least one multimedia format from the user via the communicative connection.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the service provider further comprises a server storing a list of business contact information.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the rich media related to the at least one business entity comprises at least one of the following:

(i) images of the at least one business entity;

(ii) audio clips recording names or addresses of the at least one business entity;

(iii) video clips recording the at least one business entity;

or (iv) text messages stating name and address of the at least one business entity.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the images and the video clips of the at least one business entity have embedded GPS satellite information.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining user location information based on the received data from the user mobile device further comprises:

collecting location information of the user from GPS satellite information.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining user location information based on the received data from the user mobile device further comprises:

extracting location information of the user using Wi-Fi positioning.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining user location information based on the received data from the user mobile device further comprises:

computing the user location through cell tower triangulation.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the extracting business identifier string of the at least one business entity from the received rich media comprises:

determining the data format of the received rich media;

performing a recognition procedure on the received rich media; and

generating digitalized recognition data of the received rich media.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the recognition procedure further comprises at least one of the following:

(i) optical character recognition of graphics;

(ii) speech recognition;

or (iii) text message processing.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the forming a query based on the extracted business identifier string of the at least one business entity and the determined user location in a business database comprises:

when the at least one business entity is not located by a first query, forming a second query based on the extracted business identifier string of the at least one business entity and the determined user location in the business database,

wherein the second query is associated with an expanded location range from the determined user location.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the retrieving contact information related to the at least one business entity from the business database based on the query comprises:

when an exact match of the at least one business is identified, retrieving the contact information of the exact matched at least one businesses from the database; and

when an exact match of the at least one business is not identified, retrieving the contact information of a pick list of businesses within a radius surrounding the determined user location from the database.

14. The method of claim 13 further comprising:

receiving from the mobile device a selection from the pick list to identify the at least one business entity.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a user connection request; and

automatically establishing a communicative connection between the user mobile device and the at least one business entity based on the provided contact information in response to the user connection request.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the automatically establishing a communicative connection between the user mobile device and the at least one business entity based on the provided contact information based on the user connection request comprises:

connecting the user mobile device and the at least one business entity via a communication network without manual user dialing.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein analyzing a plurality of user profiles to extract statistical information about business entities associated with users comprises:

extracting a frequency each business entity is searched for by the users from the plurality of user profiles; and

parsing the frequency of search by the geographic, temporal, and/or demographic criteria.

18. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving a connect request from the mobile device; and

establishing a communicative connection between the user and the al least one business entity through a communication network.

19. A system, comprising:

a processor;

a memory in communication with the processor and containing program instructions;

an input and output device in communication with the processor and memory comprising a graphical interface;

wherein the processor executes program instructions contained in the memory and the program instructions comprise;

receive rich media related to at least one business entity from a user mobile device;

determine user location information based on the received data from the user mobile device;

determine a data format of the received rich media;

identify a plurality of candidate recognition procedures associated with the data format;

select an identified recognition procedure from the plurality of candidate recognition procedures based on the data format;

extract a business identifier string of the at least one business entity from the received rich media in accordance with the selected recognition procedure;

form a query based on the extracted business identifier string of the at least one business entity within a radius surrounding the determined user location in a business database;

retrieve contact information related to the identified at least one business entity from the business database based on the query;

store in a user profile information about the search query, including the business entity, geographic, temporal and demographic criteria;

analyze a plurality of user profiles of users to extract statistical information about business entities associated with the users;

store the extracted statistical information about the business entities in Ad profiles associated with the business entities; and

provide the retrieved contact information related to the identified at least one business entity to the user mobile device.

20. A non-transitory computer readable medium, comprising:

processor readable instructions stored in the computer readable medium, wherein the processor readable instructions are issuable by a processor to;

receive rich media related to at least one business entity from a user mobile device;

determine user location information based on the received data from the user mobile device;

determine a data format of the received rich media;

identify a recognition procedures associated with the data format to obtain an identified recognition procedure;

select the identified recognition procedure from a plurality of candidate recognition procedures based on the data format;

extract a business identifier string of the at least one business entity from the received rich media in accordance with the selected recognition procedure;

form a query based on the extracted business identifier string of the at least one business entity within a radius surrounding the determined user location in a business database;

retrieve contact information related to the identified at least one business entity from the business database based on the query;

store in a user profile information about the search query, including the business entity, geographic, temporal and demographic criteria;

analyze a plurality of user profiles of users to extract statistical information about business entities associated with the users;

store the extracted statistical information about the business entities in Ad profiles associated with the business entities; and

provide the retrieved contact information related to the identified at least one business entity to the user mobile device.

21. A processor-implemented method, comprising:

receiving at least one digital rich media clip of at least one business entity taken by a user mobile device, wherein the at least one digital rich media clip contains GPS satellite information if the mobile device is equipped with a GPS receiver;

receiving location information of the user mobile device, wherein the receiving location information comprises at least one of;

collecting location information of the user from GPS satellite information when GPS satellite information of the user is available,

extracting location information of the user using Wi-Fi positioning when the user mobile device is enabled with Wi-Fi, and

computing the user location through cell tower triangulation;

determining a data format of the at least one digital rich media clip;

identifying a recognition procedure associated with the data format to obtain an identified recognition procedure;

selecting the identified recognition procedure from a plurality of candidate recognition procedures based on the data format, wherein the plurality of candidate recognition procedures includes;

an optical character recognition procedure when the data format is an image,

an intermittent snapshot image generation procedure and an optical character recognition procedure when the data format is a video clip, and

a speech recognition procedure when the data format is an audio clip;

performing the selected recognition procedure on the received at least one digital rich media clip;

extracting digitalized business identifier string data of the at least one digital rich media clip;

forming via a processor a query based on the extracted business identifier string data of the at least one business entity within a radius surrounding the determined user location in a business database;

selecting at least one stored business in the database based on the query, wherein the selecting at least one store business comprises;

when the at least one business is identified by the query, selecting the identified at least one business in the database, and

when the at least one business is not identified by the query, selecting a pick list of businesses in the database within a location range of the at least one business entity;

retrieving contact information related to the selected at least one business entity from the database;

storing in a user profile information about the query, including the business entity, geographic, temporal and demographic criteria;

analyzing a plurality of user profiles to extract statistical information about business entities associated with users;

storing the extracted statistical information about the business entities in Ad profiles associated with the business entities; and

providing the retrieved contact information related to the at least one business entity to the user mobile device.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein analyzing a plurality of user profiles to extract statistical information about business entities associated with users comprises:

extracting a frequency each business entity is searched for by the users from the plurality of user profiles; and

parsing the frequency of search by the geographic, temporal, and/or demographic criteria.